REFILE-German Greens turn grey as party leaders hold on
03 Dec 2006 10:01:40 GMT Source: Reuters
(Refiles to add word "German" in headline) By Erik Kirschbaum COLOGNE, Germany, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Germany's Greens are turning grey and a widening generation gap looms over the party heavily reliant on young voters just as they are counting on a revival of political fortunes amid growing climate change fears. But the ageing founder members of the world's biggest ecology party, now wearing suits rather than sandals, have turned a deaf ear to complaints from young Greens members that the greybeards are hogging all the power and the spotlight. The gap between those who created the Greens 26 years ago out of the peace movement and anti-nuclear protests and those who were not even born in 1980 was on display at their three-day party congress here in Cologne that ended on Sunday. Young Greens rebels were among the most vocal in foiling an attempt by party leaders to introduce a new party flag featuring lighter green colours, and older party leaders were further humiliated on Saturday with poor showing in their re-election tallies. The old-young rift is causing concerns among the Greens, who could be harmed at precisely the moment the electorate is becoming more receptive to their pro-environment message. Heading towards a series of state elections in 2008 and the 2009 federal ballot, it is a vital issue for the Greens, who depend more than other parties on young voters. They carried the Greens into parliament in 1983 and into government in 1998. "The Greens leadership has utterly failed to let in enough young faces," said Everhard Holtmann, political scientist at Halle University. "All party leaderships have troubles opening up for young people but the Greens have made a real mess of it. "There are powerful groupings in the Greens that evidently have a huge problem letting go," Holtmann said, adding that nothing had changed despite the retirement last year of former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, 58, who wielded heavy-handed control. The five leaders battling to take over Fischer's mantle are all near or above 50. No one under 30 is in the party executive. SILK TIES INSTEAD OF WOOL SWEATERS Many young Greens party members have expressed fears the older generation -- which now wears expensive silk ties and designer spectacles instead of baggy wool sweaters -- has lost touch with the party roots after seven years in government. "There are a lot of old Greens clinging to their jobs," Paula Riester, 22, head of the youth wing, told Reuters. "They were all young once and believe they think like they're young. They don't want to move over. "We've seen the old guard conspire to keep down good young people," she added. "Some need to be told they can't hang onto their jobs for 25 or 30 years." But Ralf Fuecks, 55, the head of the Greens' Heinrich Boell Foundation think tank, said the party does not have a generation conflict. He believes that young people are not ready to lead. "Being young is not enough of a qualification for anyone to have a leadership role," Fuecks told Reuters. "I think it's absurd for any of the leaders, all about age 45 to 55, to step aside or retire now just because young Greens want their jobs. "The young people might have finished university but they don't have enough life experience," he added. "They need a job or a career and some real world experience first." The Greens, who turned a long list of environmental causes into legislation as junior coalition partners with the Social Democrats from 1998 to 2005, won 8.1 percent of the vote in the last election and are now polling about 10 to 11 percent.
