Germany’s Greens are holding party conference in Berlin on Sunday to finalize their platform ahead of the February 23 parliamentary elections.
According to the party, 829 delegates who are eligible to vote are expected to attend. In addition to the party and faction leaders, Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock are also scheduled to speak.
The party is going into the election for the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, with Habeck and Baerbock as its top candidates. If the party were to win, Habeck would be put forward to become chancellor.
With four weeks to go, the Greens are polling at 13% to 15%.
The draft of the manifesto is entitled “Growing Together.”
The Greens are calling for a minimum wage of €15 ($15.75), and to maintain the pension level at 48%. In terms of tax policy, they are calling for a higher basic allowance up to which no income tax is due.
A credit-financed Germany fund is to be set up to improve the rail network and daycare centres, for example, and to create incentives for innovation.
On the issue of migration, the Greens are calling for a “fair, binding and solidarity-based distribution of people seeking protection in Europe.”
The Greens want to make voluntary military service and the reserve more attractive to a broad target group. Defence spending should be permanently set at “significantly more than 2% of the gross domestic product,” with Habeck having cited 3.5% as a target.
