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  German Greens on Merkel's Management: 'Pathetic for a Country that Wants to Be an Engine for Global Growth'

German Greens on Merkel's Management 'Pathetic for a Country that Wants to Be an Engine for Global Growth'

Part 2: 'We Are Not Party Poopers!'

SPIEGEL: Do you think your voters in prosperous Starnberg near Munich know what's in store for them if the Greens come to power?

Trittin: There, and in Berlin's (diverse) Kreuzberg district as well as Hamburg's (gritty) St. Pauli. In Germany, there are initiatives spearheaded by millionaires that advocate fair taxation of income. This shows you that rich people are also familiar with social responsibility.

SPIEGEL: Is voting for the Greens something of an absolution for leading a luxurious lifestyle?

Trittin: Yet another cliché. A large percentage of our voters are students or trainees and live in modest circumstances. But we also have many supporters who can afford to live a comfortable life, but at the same time don't want the environment and the poor to go to the dogs here and in the rest of the world. That's a good attitude!

SPIEGEL: But don't you have to tell your well-heeled voters the uncomfortable truth: "To save the environment and the climate, we have to consume less?"

Trittin: What we need is low-carbon consumption. The goal is to live differently. We're not party poopers.

SPIEGEL: The SPD emerged from the European election with the worst results in its history. What did it do wrong?

Trittin: It portrayed itself in the campaign as the party of social justice, while at the same time pursuing cuts in social services as part of the administration. That sort of thing can only go wrong.

SPIEGEL: Isn't it because of their dry leading candidate, Frank-Walter Steinmeier?

Trittin: The SPD chose Steinmeier.

SPIEGEL: That doesn't sound very enthusiastic.

Trittin: The SPD can't create a candidate. It has to choose from among the people it already has.

SPIEGEL: Can the Greens replace the SPD as the party of choice for leftists?

Trittin: There are regions where the SPD was humiliated for decades, areas of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany, for example. In those places, it became a party without self-confidence, and there is a yearning for a true alternative among SPD and Green Party voters. This gives us the opportunity to replace the SPD as the strong party on the left end of the spectrum. But I would caution against delusions of grandeur. We are still a long way from capturing 30 or 40 percent of the vote on a nationwide scale.

SPIEGEL: You are currently poaching the SPD's territory with a vengeance. Only recently, the Greens, together with the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) and the Left Party, adopted a resolution on a minimum wage.

Trittin: Allow me to remind you that the Greens already supported a legal minimum wage when the SPD was calling it the dirigiste work of the devil. If the Social Democrats show up today and say: "Now the Greens are also in favor of the minimum wage," all I can say is: No, dear SPD, you obstructed it when we still had a majority to back the measure in the red-green (SPD-Green Party) coalition.

SPIEGEL: It's noticeable that you constantly talk about economic policy. Some in the Green Party say that you are practicing for your role as the first Green economics minister.

Trittin: We Greens have made the conscious decision to wage an election campaign with our recipes to combat the crisis. I don't exactly have to hide the fact that I bring along a bit of experience in both industrial and international policy.

SPIEGEL: Have you given up your dream of becoming the first Green foreign minister?

Trittin: I'm certainly not about to discuss my dreams in SPIEGEL.

Interview conducted by Dirk Kurbjuweit and René Pfister.