Cologne | The Cologne Greens are starting the process of developing their new election program for the 2025 local elections in NRW. In the 2020 elections, the Greens emerged as the strongest force with 28.52 percent, leaving the SPD and CDU far behind. Yesterday, Saturday, the Cologne Greens met in the Mülheim Kulturbunker.
The council election 2020
The Cologne Greens won 28.52 percent of the vote citywide in the 2020 local elections, putting them far ahead of the second-placed SPD, which achieved 21.58 percent. After the election, the Greens were the strongest force in Cologne City Council and not only brought a new parliamentary group leader into the council, but also many new council members who had not previously been on this body. It was also a kind of rejuvenation. Together with the CDU and Volt, the Greens formed the so-called Council Alliance. Volt, the pan-European party, won 4.98 percent of the vote straight away in 2020. The European, federal and state elections at the time also reinforced the impression that the Cologne Greens are the new center of power in Cologne. Which is fitting, because the Greens are particularly strong in urban areas.
European elections 2024 – setback for the Greens
In the 2024 European elections, the Greens were once again the strongest force in Cologne. But they lost a massive amount of votes. In the end, they received 24.33 percent, a loss of over 8 percent. Volt was the clear winner. The SPD lost and the CDU retained its share of the vote.
Now, national or transnational elections are not comparable to local elections, but they are real barometers of the mood. In 2025, Cologne residents will be able to vote not only on local but also on federal politics, because a new Bundestag will also be elected in the autumn. It is therefore likely to be an important election year for the Cologne Greens, because it will decide whether they can continue to carry forward their program, an election period and legislative period and thus strengthen the directions they set. Because one thing is also clear: the Greens are not only the strongest faction with a mandate to shape things in Cologne, but are also a member of the traffic light coalition at the federal level and in the state government in a coalition with the CDU. The Greens will have to be judged on this.
Members discuss local election programme
The slogan for the program with the members of the Green Party is “Your program. Your ideas!” At first, that sounds very centered on the Green Party and its members and not on the needs of the city. But maybe that's the case. There were 120 Green members who presented their ideas for the first time in workshops on Saturday in Cologne-Mülheim. The Green Party's statement states: “The participants were able to advocate for the issues closest to their hearts and discuss the numerous ideas.”
The current parliamentary group leader in the Cologne council, Christiane Martin, names three issues that are important to the Greens: climate protection, transport and social issues. The Green parliamentary group manager, Lino Hammer, emphasizes the importance of the Greens' program.
Apart from the announcement that a local election program is now being worked on, the Cologne Greens have not yet made any statements on the content. The party is also keeping quiet about personal questions. After all, in addition to the council election, the election of a new mayor is also coming up. The Greens are in good company here, because so far there is only one candidate and that is Marcel Hövelmann from Gut. All other parties, especially the major parties, are also keeping quiet.
The Greens have set themselves a timetable. The draft is to be drawn up by December. This draft is then to be debated and voted on at the district members' meeting on February 15 and 16, 2025. The Cologne Greens attach importance to the fact that this is a grassroots democratic process.
