Why Young Germans Don’t Like the Greens Anymore

“We have lost your trust.” On TikTok, the leader of the German Greens, Ricarda Lang, tried last week to draw conclusions from her party’s catastrophic results (11.9%) in the European elections on June 9. “I am sorry that we were unable to meet your expectations,” continued the thirty-year-old, quoted by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

According to the conservative newspaper, the party is considering a strategy to win back the hearts of its voters. It intends to appeal in particular to young people, who are turning away from the party in large numbers. “Many young people do not feel heard, even though, during the Covid-19 pandemicthey accepted all the constraints without saying a word,” explains the Frankfurt media. Their concerns about inflation or security, in particular, were not taken seriously enough, which is reflected in the ballot boxes.

During the European elections, “No other party has experienced such a collapse in the youth vote,” analysis The Mirror. Contrary to their predictions, the Greens did not take advantage of the opening of voting to citizens aged 16 and 17. While in 2019 34% of 18-24 year-olds cast their vote