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Germany's Green Party began life in the 1970s as hairy, sandal-wearing eco-absolutists, but has since softened with success into comfy Bobo-Birkenstock-wearing punks.
But now they have rediscovered their roots as hippies and rebels.
Why now? Germany is rearming and rebuilding bridges across the country that had become prone to collapse after years of neglect, with a new €500 billion infrastructure fund tucked into Germany’s once-frugal debt boom. That deal, struck between the new coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, has been splattered with green paint .
What happened? The agreement needed Green votes. Given the passivity of the Green leadership in recent years, the party's agreement seemed to be little more than a formality.
No one embodied this spirit of appeasement better than the outgoing vice-chancellor, Robert Habeck, a soft-spoken children's book author who seems almost obsessed with finding compromise.
Take the recent election campaign. Even as the Christian Democrats were continually lambasting the Greens, Habeck moved closer to them.
But the Greens' benevolent era came to an end last week when the party roundly rejected the initial proposal for a €500 billion bailout fund and publicly shamed the country's future conservative leader, Friedrich Merz.
It seems that such aggressive return fire has become a miracle cure for the party's wounded soul.
MPs exchanged laughing emojis , talked about dropped microphones and generally seemed overjoyed to finally have struck back.
The lesson they have learned? That it is pleasant to be radical – and the party’s politicians have found that it works. The common view in party circles is that they achieved more in four days as radicals than they did in three years of compromise while in government.
Down with Khabek and his soft words, long live low blows and political brinkmanship.
The new Greens will be much like their founders: squatters, anti-nuclear absolutists and street protesters.
All they need now are new sandals.
Round up
Economy – The European Commission has unveiled an action plan to rescue Europe's ailing steel industry, seeking to protect the sector from growing trade problems and high energy prices.
Technology – US tech giant Apple is facing pressure from the EU to open up its closed ecosystem to other companies. The Commission is asking Apple to take a range of interoperability measures under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Defence – Brussels has unveiled its latest plan to coordinate massive spending on military equipment in a white paper that envisages a complex funding scheme and pooled equipment orders.
All over Europe
Germany – According to the annual report of the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food on the food supply chain, in 2024 the German Ministry of Agriculture took action on two cases of unfair trading practices.
Bulgaria – Influential environmental NGOs warn that Bulgaria risks losing up to €2.5 billion in EU grants from the Social Climate Fund due to delays in preparing a national plan.
Spain – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's coalition has approved an immigration reform that will allow some 6,000 unaccompanied minors to be distributed among Spain's 17 regions after reaching an agreement with the Catalan separatist party JxCat.
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