By Sarah Lawton
Nov. 23, 2020
Following their three-day virtual party conference, Germany’s Greens have a new basic programme, including a commitment to the Paris Climate targets to limit the Earth’s warming to 1.5 degrees, which is described as “the central basis for the Greens’ policy,” and reasserting their demands for 100% renewable energy in the country and the phasing out of fossil fuels.
Intended to guide the party for the next 15 to 20 years, the document does not have a specific platform for the 2021 federal elections, which will be adopted later next year.
One major change includes a lifting of the fundamental opposition to genetic engineering, although the party still remains sceptical of the technology.
Party leader Robert Habeck said that old genetic engineering had not kept its promises, but “freedom of research must be guaranteed.” “It is not the technology, but its opportunities, risks and consequences that are at the centre of attention,” the programme states.
The programme also calls for reforms to Germany’s unemployment benefits, replacing the current Hartz IV system with a security guarantee that would be granted without pre-conditions. The party additionally wants to lower the federal voting age to 16 years old, which is already the case in some states.
Recent polling has put the Greens in solid second place behind the conservative CDU/CSU. Though the Greens have not yet picked their candidate for the chancellorship race for 2021, it is presumed that it would be one of its current chairs, Habeck or Annalena Baerbock.
(Sarah Lawton | EURACTIV.de) /Published at www.euractiv.com
