Eastern Green politicians: East should be given more weight

Green politicians from the East are calling for a more important role for the East German Greens in the Bundestag parliamentary group. "It is not enough to visit the East. They must be given a say in decision-making," reads the letter to the Green members of the Bundestag, which was obtained by the German Press Agency. The "Tagesspiegel" had initially reported. "Change is needed - also in the parliamentary group," it says. Faces are needed that stand for Green Party politics in the East. State elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are due next year.

The letter is signed by the state chairmen of the Greens in Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia as well as the former Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the
former GDR, Marianne Birthler.

Ost-Politik Aufgabe der Gesamtpartei

Greens leader Felix Banaszak said that he did not want to anticipate the constitution of the parliamentary group. However, he announced that the Green politician Claudia Müller from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had applied for the executive parliamentary group board as parliamentary secretary. In his perception, Müller has great support.

With a view to the east, Banaszak said that the party and parliamentary group had already said that the task was one for the party as a whole. There will be decisions of a structural nature or the distribution of resources. The party's federal executive board had recently passed a resolution stating that the Greens wanted to show more face in the eastern German states.

The Greens have a difficult time in eastern Germany, performing poorly in many elections. The eastern German state associations are now to receive more support, including in fundraising and campaigning.