Germany's Green power duo: Habeck and Baerbock

The Greens are riding high at the moment. At the federal level, they are the second-largest force in the government coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP).

In the state elections that followed last year's general election, the Greens have been able to score successes across the board. This month, they won a whopping 18.3% in the state election in Schleswig-Holstein two weeks ago, up from 12.9% in the 2017 result. And last weekend, the Greens catapulted from 6.4% to 18.2% in the state election in North Rhine-Westphalia. Almost a threefold increase.

There are many regional political reasons for all of these results, but there is also a strong federal political component. And that has a lot to do with the two Green federal politicians and ministers who are currently gaining much attention: Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, who is also minister for the economy and climate protection.

According to a survey conducted by the Insa polling institute at the beginning of May, Habeck and Baerbock rank first and second on the popularity scale among Germans, far ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the SPD. "The Greens are exceeding expectations," said Insa head Hermann Blinkert. "They are addressing the issues that are currently burning under people's noses." And these topics are: Clear opposition to Russia, clear support for Ukraine, and clear crisis management as the war makes oil and gas scarce and expensive in Germany.

Baerbock and the Ukraine war

Indeed, Baerbock appears to have become a symbol of Europe's conscience at the moment. She tirelessly warns of the consequences of the war on the whole continent, and demands arms deliveries to Ukraine, long before many of her cabinet colleagues in Germany do so. Even before the outbreak of war, she was not put off by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a visit to Moscow in mid-January, where she also spoke up for Ukraine.

She was the first senior member of the government from Germany to visit Ukraine in the middle of the war — and was visibly moved in front of the cameras: "We owe it to these victims that we not only commemorate them here but that we bring the perpetrators to justice and hold them to account," she said during a visit to the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, site of a horrific civilian massacre allegedly by Russian forces.

On Monday this week, addressing the dispute over a possible oil embargo by Europe against Russia, the German foreign minister announced, "In the next few days we will come to a joint result — I am very confident about that," despite Hungary's ongoing refusal to agree to the embargo.

More than Chancellor Olaf Scholz himself, the young German foreign minister appears to symbolize the clear course against Russia, and solidarity with Ukraine, in other words, the "turning point" that Scholz proclaimed in the Bundestag after the war began. Most recently, Baerbock used Germany's G7 presidency to promote her clear course for Ukraine at the meeting of foreign ministers with her colleagues in northern Germany.

Habeck: The energy crisis manager

Robert Habeck, meanwhile, is primarily acting as an energy crisis manager. Germany has already reduced its dependence on Russian oil from 35% before the war to 12% now, according to Habeck. On the subject of gas supplies from Russia, Habeck has reached agreements on deliveries with Norway, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in order to replace Russian gas. And he is driving forward the expansion of renewable energies through various laws.

But it is his communication style that appears to make the difference to German voters. He does not hesitate to show emotion, talk about his doubts and explain his decisions in simple words.

Habeck remains approachable, according to his biographer Stefan Bergholz. "He embodies a counter-model to the conventional, untouchable, compartmentalized political functionary. And he gives people hope," says Bergholz.

Popular — by comparison

Habeck and Baerbock are also doing so well because the same is not exactly true for other members of the government. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is often accused of not standing up for Ukraine decisively enough, of not explaining himself publicly, especially when it comes to arms deliveries. His defense minister, Christine Lambrecht, is unpopular and Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has been struggling to implement his policy plans during the COVID pandemic.

How long the vice-chancellor and foreign minister's soaring popularity in the polls will continue remains to be seen. Their big problem, in the long run, is that many of their actions — whether it is supplying even heavy weapons to Ukraine, or importing gas from the Gulf region — seem hardly reconcilable with the Greens' core positions. But at the moment, from the people's point of view, they stand as the ones who are pointing out the right path in the crises that have arisen from the war.

This article was originally written in German.

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