German Greens Show Up Merkel’s Bloc With Baerbock for Chancellor
- Co-leader will seek to be country’s second female chancellor
- Smooth process contrasts with messy fight in conservative bloc
Photographer: Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance/Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
Germany’s Greens drew a sharp contrast to their bickering conservative rivals in the contest to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor, proposing Annalena Baerbock as their lead candidate for September’s national election.
The party, which is nipping at the heels of Merkel’s Christian Democrat-led bloc, picked the 40-year-old political scientist and foreign-policy expert to run their campaign. It was a smooth, well-orchestrated process, compared with the messy spectacle that has split the conservative alliance.