In the aftermath of the European elections last Sunday, the German establishment has been trying to come to terms with radically altered political realities. Despite advance polls predicting a notable shift to the Right, the result still shook the country. Less than a third of voters stuck with the parties of the ruling centre-left coalition, and the Right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) became the second largest political force after the conservative Union. Young people in particular defied expectations, many turning their backs on the Greens and switching to the Right.
For the first time, 16- and 17-year-old Germans were allowed to vote in EU elections, something the Greens had strongly advocated as one of three parties in the governing coalition. Arguing that the “lowering of the voting age takes young people and their concerns seriously”, they had no doubt hoped that these concerns would align with their own.
This Green push, published in the autumn of 2022, coincided with a global protest organised by the Fridays for Future “school strike” movement, inspired by the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. According to organisers’ own figures, 220,000 turned out in Germany (though the police spoke of tens of thousands). The media reported that most participants were young and demanded drastic change in energy and infrastructure policy.