Ricarda Lang and Omnid Nouripour succeed Anallena Baerbock and Robert Habeck at the head of the environmental training
The former leader of the environmental youth and a foreign policy expert of Iranian origin are the new presidents of the German Greens. Ricarda Lang, 28 years old and since this Saturday the youngest leader in the history of a German party with parliamentary representation, and Omnid Nouripour, 46 years old, were elected with a large majority by the delegates attending the virtual congress of the formation that since last December he governs in Germany in coalition with social democrats and liberals. Lang and Nouripour succeed Ananlena Baerbock, current federal foreign minister, and Robert Habeck, federal deputy chancellor and head of Economy and Climate Protection in the executive led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, at the head of the environmental party. Both said goodbye to their positions in the party at the beginning of the congress this Friday after four years in office. The statutes of Los Verdes do not allow its members to occupy both a public office and a position of responsibility in the party and since its foundation they have had a two-headed presidency.
In his promotion speech when running for election, Lang stressed that his priority task will be to link climate and environmental protection to social justice. “We must now show that this is possible,” said the young German politician. Due to a coronavirus infection that forces him to keep home quarantine, Lang could not be present on the stage of the Berlin Velodrom, where a part of the leadership of the environmentalist formation was concentrated, while several hundred delegates followed the development of the congress via network. Ricarda Lang was from 2017 to 2019 leader of the Green Youth, from that year on she was vice president of the party and since the legislative elections last fall she has held a seat in the Bundestag. She intends to focus her parliamentary work on promoting diversity and defending social justice. Lang is the daughter of the late sculptor Eckhart Dietz and a social worker. She studied law at the Heidelberg and Humboldt universities in Berlin, although she has not graduated.
His partner in the presidency of the Greens emigrated to Germany at the age of 13 with his parents, both aeronautical engineers, in 1988 during the First Gulf War between Iran and Iraq. After learning German and finishing high school he studied German Philology, Law, Economics and Sociology in Mainz, although he dropped out of university in 2002 when he became a member of the Greens’ federal executive. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Bundestag, where he took over from former Green Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. Since 2013 he has been the parliamentary foreign speaker of his formation in the German lower house. Representative of the realistic wing of Los Verdes, Nouripour stressed that his candidacy is intended to motivate citizens of migrant origin to become more involved in politics and carry the party forward with the aim of winning elections and occupying the head of government. “We must play again in the fight for the Federal Chancellery,” said the new co-chairman of Los Verdes.
While Ricarda Lang obtained the support of 75.93% of the votes cast in her election, Omnid Nouripour reached 82.58% support. The digital vote must still be formalized with a vote by mail by the delegates, a count that will end on February 14. It will not be until then when both officially occupy their positions. While Lang was unchallenged in the vote, Nouripour was up against two other candidates who had ridiculous results. The best result in a vote for the presidency of the Greens was achieved by Annalena Baerbock during her re-election in 2019 with 97.1% support. The delegates attending the congress also elected the rest of the members of the party’s federal executive, as well as other minor unions. Remarkable is the election of Emily Büning, until now head of organization of the formation, as the new general secretary and successor of Michael Kellner, also forced to resign from all positions of responsibility in the Greens after recently becoming parliamentary secretary of state in the ministry headed by Habeck.
#28yearold #woman #politician #Iranian #origin #presidents #Greens