Annalena Baerbock was to take over from Angela Merkel and become a breath of fresh air in German politics. But so far, Baerbock has only managed to prove that she is quite green.
The comments expresses the writer’s opinions.
The Greens rode the pandemic like a wave.
While Christian Democrats and Social Democrats sat in the coalition government and surrounded themselves with scandals and unpopular decisions, Annalena Baerbock (41) and her fellow party leader Robert Habeck (51) were able to point the nose at their rivals and cheerfully moralize about their various disasters.
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The dream
After the two leaders decided in April in the chamber that SHE should be the Chancellor’s chancellor candidate, the opinion polls were blown to smithereens.
At the same time, the Christian Democrats – after a long and brutal power struggle – were able to record an all-time low on the same polls.
If the Greens themselves could sweep in 30 percent and Armin Laschet’s Christian Democrats got a couple of twenty, it would be more than enough for a coalition between the two parties – with Annalena Baerbock as Chancellor and the one who would sit with her hand on the wheel.
Popular
The non-bourgeois media was suddenly flooded with celebratory articles about this political genius that was now sailing to the top of the Federal Republic.
Annalena Baerbock was on all channels, announced her plans to maneuver Germany into a new era, and garnered cheers and applause where she appeared.
But then she started making mistakes. It was first discovered that she had embellished a little on her CV.
Three years as office manager for a green representative in the EU Parliament was to guarantee both management experience and foreign time. Then it turned out that she had only spent a few months in Strasbourg, and the rest of the time at home in Potsdam outside Berlin.
The office manager thing was perhaps also to take a little hard.
The money
It was discovered that she had “forgotten” to report extra income from the party of three to four hundred thousand kroner. At first she tried to get away with the fact that this was really just about formalities.
It was unbelievably stupid of her to make such a mistake, but do not we all make mistakes once in a while?
Critics pointed out that she must have a rather distant relationship with money, when she does not remember to say in the right places that she has received a Christmas gratuity that amounted to more than many German families have available for a whole year.
Gadget
It was also Baerbock who only two months earlier had demanded harsh reactions against Christian Democratic politicians who used contacts in the Ministry of Health to earn mega sums on conveying deer masks and other protective equipment.
Not only the sinners but also the Christian Democratic Union had to bear their share of the responsibility.
Now it was her own turn to receive verbal gadgets.
Reporters and political enemies continued to dig into the CV and there appeared more and more trifles.
Last week, the newspaper “die Welt” had found out that Baerbock did most things wrong, when she – six or seven years ago, as party leader in the state of Brandenburg was subjected to a cashier who robbed the cash register.
Blind party leader
What at first looked like a minor embezzlement was to grow into gross fraud of almost three million kroner – made over four to five years without anyone noticing that the fortune had decreased considerably.
Actually, Annalena Baerbock should have provided control. Because he was equipped with all the powers to raise as much as he wanted and no one checked, the man had simply taken the opportunity – and burned the money on prostitutes.
Instead of having the affair investigated, she made sure to put a line and sweep the whole scandal under the rug – after the cashier was convicted. Most of the money was lost.
Also read: The forgotten war in the north: The Germans attacked the Soviets from Norway
CDU back
As one scandal takes over for the next and Baerbock has to spend a lot of time and attention explaining and explaining away, she can comfort herself with a lead to the SPD of five to six percent – as long as IT lasts.
The CDU and the Bavarian sister party CSU have three or four peaceful weeks behind them without internal islets and mutual exchange of more or less well-wrapped insults.
Armin Laschet IS now the party’s undisputed chancellor candidate. From the valley of death near the 1920s, the CDU has fought back in the direction of 30 percent.
Thus, the party is back in a leading position and if the election result should be as today’s polls suggest, then Armin Laschet can at that time choose and reject possible coalition partners.
New options
Then suddenly the cards are about to be redistributed – and in the new game, Annalena Baerbock may risk not being a member of the next German government at all. For Laschet can enter into cooperation with the Free Democrats in the FDP, which is beginning to show old rhythms. Or he can do a new horse trade with the Social Democrats.
Maybe with both?
Last week, Annalena Baerbock presented her new book, in which she explains her view of the world and comes up with possible models for combating the climate crisis – at the same time as the welfare state is not lost. AT LAST she could go on the offensive.
Here you can read more posts by Asbjørn Svarstad
New problems
But an Austrian plagiarist quickly found out that Baerbock had taken excerpts from Internet sources in several places.
Baerbock herself claims that she has only retrieved some facts from the web, and certainly not guilty of either drug theft or lack of source reference.
Last night, the Austrian announced that he has found six more cases, and he is still investigating.
Witch hunt?
Party comrades are furious and believe that the witch hunt on Baerbock is now beginning to look like a character assassination. So this time she’s trying to hire one of the country’s most expensive experts on press law to stop the spread of these allegations.
Annalena Baerbock’s small and big mistakes are not much to worry about. But, as many point out, she markets herself as more than competent to become the country’s chief executive.
The fact that she cheats with her CV can perhaps be interpreted as an expression that she is not even convinced that the background holds true.
Already seen
Before the election five years ago, the old ring fox Martin Schulz was to regain the voters’ trust in the SPD. He could boast of his “usual” background and a great career from the top of the EU.
Schulz was received as a hero and the political barometer trembled, while the Social Democrats addressed the polls.
After a few weeks, however, Schulz had stumbled so many times in his own legs and made so many mistakes that the magic disappeared like dew to the sun.
The pollsters could breathe a sigh of relief, while the SPD support sank back to basics and ended with an election result that was not much to write home about.
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Murphy’s law?
I’m afraid it’s the same mechanism that has hit Annalena Baerbock. What can go wrong usually ends up in the wall.
Maybe the problem is that she is simply not as competent as she would like to be?
A real green spot?
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