BERLIN — Germany’s Greens on Thursday delayed announcing their ministers for the country’s incoming government due to internal wrangling over who should get the posts.
The party had planned to reveal who would lead the five ministries it secured as part of a deal to form a coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) and liberal Free Democrats (FDP), under the chancellorship of the SPD’s Olaf Scholz.
But Greens’ co-leader Robert Habeck was forced to tell party colleagues and journalists that it wasn’t ready to go ahead.
“We came out of the coalition negotiations a little differently in terms of ministries than we had thought, and you will have to wait a little longer,” Habeck said, adding the names would now appear on Friday morning.
It has been widely reported that Habeck himself will lead a new economy and climate ministry, giving him significant power to implement policies to slash CO2 emissions, from clean car subsidies to boosting the rollout of renewable energy generation.
The party’s other co-leader, Annalena Baerbock, is expected to become foreign minister, which leaves three more Green-led ministries up for grabs: those responsible for agriculture, family and the environment.
According to German media reports, the main dispute was over whether Cem Özdemir, a prominent Green MP who belongs to the party’s pragmatic “realo” wing along with Baerbock and Habeck, should become agriculture minister — possibly at the expense of Toni Hofreiter, a stalwart environmentalist from Bavaria on the party’s fundamentalist “fundi” faction, getting a ministerial post.
Joshua Posaner contributed reporting.