The red-green coalition

In a recent interview with the magazine Stern, Green Environment Minister Jurgen Trittin claimed that, on the basis of his experience, there was no longer much to choose between the SPD and the CDU. As a result, Trittin argued, the Greens should no longer be in thrall to the Social Democrats but should be prepared to consider the Christian Democrats as potential coalition partners, at least in the medium term. Trittin's remarks were immediately condemned by politicians within his own party, as well as the SPD and - more surprisingly - the CDU itself! Few can doubt that they were at least in part the product of frustration with the red-green coalition's somewhat shaky start in office.