Green Party politician Aminata Touré is now officially deputy prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein. She is looking forward to the task, as she announced on her Instagram channel on Thursday.
Schleswig-Holstein’s future deputy prime minister, Aminata Touré, wants to maintain the trusting cooperation of the black-green coalition. “My main task is to keep the show together, I’m not afraid of that,” the 31-year-old Green politician told the German Press Agency. “I think it’s awesome to be able to take on responsibility.” She also wants to stand up for the black-green coalition’s plans at a higher level.
Touré enjoys working with Daniel Günther
Touré is now deputy to Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU), succeeding the outgoing Finance Minister Monika Heinold (Greens) in this role. Her aim is to perpetuate the good cooperation. “I have known Günther for a day or two longer.” She really enjoys working with him. “He is a reliable and trustworthy Prime Minister who keeps his word and doesn’t make us feel like the smaller coalition partner every day.”
Leadership role in the Greens
Touré not only wants to represent the head of government, but also wants to take over the coordination of the green government camp. That is why she deliberately ran with Heinold as a dual leadership for the 2022 state election, said Touré. “We never talked about the specific time. But it was clear that Ms. Heinold would go into well-deserved retirement at some point.”
CDU and Greens need each other
There will continue to be differences in content between the CDU and the Greens, said Touré. “But I don’t think that’s dramatic, because we are not one party, and that won’t change in the coming years.” Both partners need each other. “We can learn from each other why certain Green positions are not popular with the general public and vice versa, why CDU positions are not popular with liberal, more left-wing social groups.”
“We want to change society”
Looking at her party’s latest poll ratings of 11 to 13 percent, Touré said that her party’s recent decline in popularity was also due to its desire for change. “We want to change society. To think that everyone would cheer was a naive thought,” said Touré. “We were shocked by reality when we returned to the federal government after years in opposition.” Her party had been riding the wave of success for a long time and felt untouchable. “That was a naivety that we displayed.”
For example, with the heating law, people noticed that “that’s a lot of change that you want to impose on us,” said Touré. The coalition partner, the Union, is anchored in society differently than her party. “Sometimes we are still a little too far removed from the reality of life for many people who don’t think it’s all that great. In a phase of political lows like this, a party cannot despair, cannot become arbitrary, but must fight its way through.”
