It was a turbulent conference of delegates for the Thuringian Greens: a candidate for party chairmanship withdrew his application, a former minister took the board to court.
Walldorf (dpa/th) - He won with an emotional plea for climate protection and cohesion: Sociology student and organic beekeeper Max Reschke is the new party leader of the Thuringian Greens. The 27-year-old was elected on Saturday at a state delegates' conference in Walldorf near Meiningen to succeed Bernhard Stengele, who has been Thuringia's energy and environment minister since February. Reschke and Ann-Sophie Bohm, who has been state spokeswoman for some time, now form the dual leadership of the Greens, which are the governing party in Thuringia.
The 27-year-old prevailed with 62 votes against Christina Prothmann from Jena, for whom 36 delegates voted. The 32-year-old social worker and district mayor in Jena only applied shortly before the vote. Reschke, who comes from the Weimar region, submitted his candidacy one day before the delegates' conference. Both were surprise candidates - with Prothmann, the meeting management had to ask for the correct spelling of her name.
For a long time, the Bundeswehr officer Matthias Kaiser from Gotha was the only candidate for the office of party leader. However, he withdrew his application at the delegates' conference. In the past few days, he had come to the realization that he was the wrong applicant at the time, the 44-year-old justified his decision. According to his own statements, he was a CDU member for about ten years before joining the Greens in 2019.
According to Reschke, he wants to complete his studies this year. He earns his living as a beekeeper. The 27-year-old, who has been involved with the Greens since he was young, said in his application speech that "we have to stop just looking after ourselves". It applies to argue about topics, "no longer about people". He indirectly alluded to the staff carousel of the Greens in the red-red-green state government.
Migration Minister Dirk Adams had lost his office - at the delegates' conference he criticized the actions of the state executive. To this day, there is no clear reason why the board asked Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) to dismiss him as minister, Adams said. "It has to come to the table what was wrong." Adams, who was also the leader of the Greens in the Thuringian state parliament for a time, called for fair treatment: "Never do that to anyone again."
In Walldorf, Stengele pleaded for a state fund to invest more in the energy transition than before. "We have to take money into our hands to counter the climate crisis," said the environment minister. He spoke of a "transformation fund" on which the red-red-green coalition government in Thuringia has not yet been able to agree. It is important that the state pushes investments in order to speed up the expansion of renewable energies.
At the conference of delegates, a motion was withdrawn that questioned arms deliveries to war zones and wanted to give priority to diplomatic initiatives. Finally, an alternative motion was accepted that focused on the right to self-defence as international law.
The Greens have been the governing party in Thuringia since 2014 and have been in a minority coalition with the Left Party and the SPD since 2020. A new state parliament is to be elected in Thuringia next year. In representative surveys, the Greens, which have around 1,400 members, have so far been between five and seven percent.
