Alliance 90/The Greens Baden-Württemberg: Difference between revisions

Political party in Baden-Württemberg

Alliance 90/The Greens Baden-Württemberg is one of the state associations of the German Green Party in Baden-Württemberg. With over 22,000 members, it is the third largest Green Party association in Germany, after North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria.^[1]

The parliamentary group is currently the largest in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament with 57 seats and has provided the state’s Minister-President since 2011.^[2]

The Green Party of Baden-Württemberg was founded on 30 September 1979 in Sindelfingen, emerging from various citizens’ movements, especially the strong anti-nuclear protests around the planned Wyhl nuclear power plant. In 1980 the party entered the state parliament for the first time with 5.3%, marking the first time Greens won seats in a parliament of a German non-city state.^[3]

Throughout the 1980s the party was shaped by internal debates between its fundamentalist and pragmatic wings, with leading figures such as Winfried Kretschmann and Fritz Kuhn strengthening the realist camp over time. By the end of the decade, the pragmatists had largely prevailed.^[3]

The Greens steadily increased their influence at the municipal level and achieved notable successes in the 1990s, including 12.1% in the 1996 state election. The party played a major role in the protests against the Stuttgart 21 rail project and secured 24.2% in the 2011 state election. On 12 May 2011, Winfried Kretschmann became the first Green Minister-President in Germany, leading a Green–Red government. Since 2016 the Greens have been the strongest party in the state, achieving 32.6% in the 2021 election.^[4]

Several cities in Baden-Württemberg have been governed by Green mayors, including Freiburg, Konstanz, Tübingen and Stuttgart, further highlighting the party’s strong regional base.^[5]

Cem Özdemir is the party’s top candidate for the 2026 state elections.^[6]