12
◼ AGENDA
● Europe’sonce-fringepoliticalmovementis nowin
positiontoleadthecontinentforward◼BLOOMBERGOPINIONWrittenbytheBloombergOpinioneditorialboard ILLUSTRATIONBYARNEBELLSTORFEurope’s Green parties are having the best kind of midlife crisis.
Born in the radical counterculture of the 1970s, their movement
is entering not only middle age but also the hallways of power.
Having grown big, though, the Greens must now grow up.
The Greens owe their recent surge partly to the “Greta
wave,” the new zeitgeist of climate consciousness inspired by
activist Greta Thunberg. But they also benefit from a reaction by
urban, educated Europeans against the rise of populist parties.
Increasingly, European Union voters are leaving the traditional
big-tent blocs for the relative clarity of the poles: populists
demanding closed societies or Greens defending openness.
In Austria, the Greens could soon replace the far right as
junior partners in a national government. In Germany, they’ve
been rising in the polls since 2017 and are becoming strong
runners-up to the prevailing center-right bloc. They’re already
partners in a majority of state governments.
The current Greening of Europe is the movement’s second
run at power. Starting in the 1990s, Green parties were at vari-
ous times part of governments in Belgium, the Czech Republic,
Finland, France, Ireland, and Germany. Latvia in 2004 even
briefly had a Green prime minister. But those were different
times and different Greens. The parties hadn’t yet resolvedGreens Are Growing Up
their internal confusion. Did they want to be, in the German
jargon, radical “fundis” or pragmatic “realos”?
Many of the EU’s Green parties started out as collections
of warring fundi cliques devoted to causes such as veganism,
recycling, pacifism, sexual liberation, or ending nuclear power.
They could afford these eccentricities because they didn’t
really expect to carry political responsibility.
Times have changed. These days the biggest challenge is
to bring the planet’s ecological and economic destinies into
harmony. The Greens have always, at least rhetorically, cared
about the former, while showing distrust of markets. Growing
up means overcoming that false dichotomy. Instead of bad-
mouthing business, it makes better sense to put a price on
carbon and let markets adjust to it.
In this context, the most encouraging place in Europe may
be Baden-Wuerttemberg, one of Germany’s richest and most
successful states. For 58 years, it was ruled by conservatives;
for the past eight, the Greens have been in charge. Its pre-
mier, Winfried Kretschmann, entered political life in the 1970s
as part of a Marxist-Leninist student group. Today, he hob-
nobs with citizens, entrepreneurs, and bosses, loves bicycles
and Mercedes, and wants people to make money, but without
polluting. His Greens have brought together their state’s car
industry with universities, unions, and laboratories, so that
together they can make cars not only fancy but also electric.
This is the direction Europe’s Greens should take. Liberal
parties haven’t risen to this challenge and are leaving a void in
the political spectrum. The Greens should fill it. <BW>Germany reports gross domestic product numbers for the
third quarter on Nov. 14, and data suggest the European
Union’s largest economy is on the brink of recession.
Waning demand for exports like cars, as well as uncertainty
fueled by Brexit and trade disputes, have hurt output.▶ The streaming wars are
set to enter a new phase
when Disney+ begins
service in the U.S. on
Nov. 12 with a monthly fee
of $6.99. ▷ 50▶ Walmart reports earnings
on Nov. 14. Consumer
spending has held up
well in the U.S. even as
the economy shows signs
of slowing.▶ SpaceX has scheduled
its first Falcon 9 launch in
more than three months,
with the rocket slated to lift
a host of satellites into orbit
on Nov. 11.▶ The world’s biggest
shopping extravaganza,
Singles’ Day, takes place
in China on Nov. 11. Most
of the buying will occur on
Alibaba’s main sites.▶ Tencent reports third-
quarter earnings on
Nov. 13. The stock has lost
almost $100 billion in value
since April and is close to
erasing this year’s gains.▶ The biennial Dubai
Airshow kicks off on Nov. 17.
Often a venue for big aircraft
orders by Middle East
carriers, this year’s event
may show muted demand.▶ Europe’s Engine Runs Out of Steam
Bloomberg Businessweek November 11, 2019