Als Ricarda Lang recently was askedwhether she would become “the new Baerbock”, she said somewhat mischievously: “Maybe I want to become the new Habeck.”
She takes it back just as mischievously: “Of course that was a joke!” she calls into the video camera and laughs her happy, rattling laughter, which can be heard from afar wherever Lang is nearby. Habeck and Baerbock will of course remain Habeck and Baerbock, she says, while she and Omid Nouripour are a new team in a new situation.
The two want to become federal chairmen of the Greens. You can tell how confident they are by the fact that they are already discussing what they want to say in the post-election press conference. And then how to proceed. They call each other at least five times a day.
“Bye, green youth!”
Of course, there isn’t much time to celebrate. Lang turned 28 on Monday and, after a long day at work, at least briefly toasted his flatmates. “Bye, Green Youth!” She wrote on Instagram. At 28, the Greens are officially over with youth. That fits with Lang’s plans. “I’m very grateful that I’m doing politics in a party where my age has never determined what I’m politically capable of.” That doesn’t sound like great reverence for the office. And most of the Greens don’t seem to think it’s crazy that a 28-year-old woman should become the national leader of a governing party.
Only sometimes does Claudia Roth, who was in her forties when she became chairwoman of the Greens, think: “Wow, such a young, strong woman – where does that actually come from?” And then she praises Lang’s “crystal-clear intellect”, her courage, their assertiveness. The only thing Roth tried to drive her out of was talking fast. With varying degrees of success.
In October 2021, Lang campaigned at the Extraordinary State Council of the Greens for the start of coalition negotiations
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Image: dpa
Jürgen Trittin, former Minister of the Environment and a member of the Bundestag for more than two decades, answers the question about age with a little story. When Ricarda Lang spoke as federal spokeswoman for the Green Youth at the New Year’s reception in Göttingen a few years ago, the young people were looking forward to a passionate speech on the topics of “Diversity and Refugees Welcome”. The elderly, on the other hand, were annoyed that the young rebel had even been invited. But then, says Trittin, Lang surprised them all, young and old alike, and delivered a polished, rather grown-up lecture on social justice.
Lang is not only a hashtag expert, queer feminist and body shaming officer, but also something like the social conscience of the Greens. She often talks about her childhood, about her single mother, about money, which was sometimes scarce. The mother is also the one who gives her orientation when politics feels unreal after a twelve-hour day without sunlight and with limp bread rolls.
Young, green idealist meets Scholz and Lindner
At the constitutive session of the Bundestag, she realized again that she was not born with this career. She spoke about it with Paul Ziemiak from the CDU, of all people. The two have known and argued with each other for a long time, but also appreciate each other. “Neither of us were born with a golden spoon,” says Ziemiak. And even if the day was rather a bitter one for the CDU, Ziemiak was able to say to Lang: “The fact that we are both allowed to stand here as parliamentarians shows what a great country of opportunities we live in.”
In the parliamentary group, Lang is surrounded by young colleagues who are also not yet thirty. Lang finds this quite logical in times of the climate crisis. Now those who would have to deal with the consequences the longest would have to have a say in the decision-making process. “I see this generation as very mature and also as ready.” Of course there are high demands, but there is also a clear understanding that compromises are part of it. “Elan and reason do not have to be mutually exclusive.”
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