By Michael Sauerbier
With the heating law and refugee policy, the Greens have turned everyone against them – and made the AfD strong. But while the SPD and CDU are changing course on immigration, the eco-party in Brandenburg remains steadfast.
Bad atmosphere at the Green Party conference in the Frankfurt (Oder) exhibition hall. “It’s not easy for you right now,” joked Mayor René Wilke (Left) in his welcoming speech, “sometimes you get the impression that the Greens are personally responsible for the end of the world.”
“The mood is already very heated,” admitted Antje Töpfer, who wants to run as the Green top candidate in the state elections in 2024. “The wind is blowing quite coldly in our faces.” The State Secretary explains hostility and the crash in the survey with the war in Ukraine, rising prices and the influx of refugees.
Green party leader Antje Töpfer wants to continue to accept every refugee
But no Green party wants to curb immigration – on the contrary. “We have a damn duty to take in people who are fleeing war and persecution,” Töpfer shouted to applause. Not a word about the many who enter the country without a reason for asylum. Smuggled in from Moscow or from southern EU countries because of higher cash benefits.
But Economics State Secretary Michael Kellner (Greens) rejects benefits in kind instead of cash for refugees: “That’s nonsense, that’s harassment!” Border controls are also not a solution for the Greens. Instead, “rapid integration of refugees into the labor market” and “quick accommodation in apartments instead of in shared accommodation”.
The Greens hardly notice that cities and districts complain about a lack of refugee accommodation, school places, social workers and the dissatisfaction of the residents. The Eco Party does not provide a district administrator or mayor in Brandenburg. A Green Party member who experiences the problems on a daily basis said to the BZ: “I can’t get through to this in the party.”
Brandenburg’s Agriculture Minister Axel Vogel (67, Green) continues to push for bans Photo: picture alliance/dpa
The Greens also do not want to give up their ban policy. “Banning bans leaves a free hand for every kind of environmental destruction and destruction of the future,” said Environment Minister Axel Vogel. He believes: “It doesn’t work without guardrails. We do this to enforce our content – for the benefit of the population.” But they don’t like bans.
“Now especially!” said Social Affairs Minister Ursula Nonnemacher defiantly about the election campaign. And was the only one who dared to criticize himself because of his green tendency to lecture. Nonnemacher: “What is more important is the sensitive approach!” The Greens must be visible “appreciatively” everywhere in the country.
On site, the Greens can then determine how much their refugee and ban policies deter the people of Brandenburg. In surveys they fell from 10.2 to 8 percent.