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The Week in Germany: Politics

August 5, 2005

Campaign panorama: Greens' Vote Bar offers heated debate, cool drinks

Germany's Green Party has taken its battle for the hearts and minds of German voters to the trendy bar scene of the nation's capital, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has reported.

At the "Waehlbar," which can mean either "Vote Bar" or "Votable," drinks and campaign materials are served up side by side. Photo: Greens party

With the party facing an uphill battle for re-election less than two months before a planned September vote, the junior partner in Berlin's governing coalition is reaching out to voters at its very own politically-themed party zone in the heart of Berlin.

At the "Waehlbar," which can mean either "Vote Bar" or "Votable," drinks and campaign materials are served up side by side from a portable bar on street popular with bar-hopping tourists.

The hope is to introduce the Greens' distinctive brand of progressive politics to voters who have neither the time nor the inclination to attend long-winded party rallies.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, an influential conservative daily, was, however, less than impressed with the environmentalist Greens' politicized take on the traditional Biergarten.

Questioning whether the Waehlbar's Astroturf and potted plants pass for ecological these days, the paper bemoaned the bar's lack of the lengthy cocktail menu that is de rigeur at many Berlin nightspots.

"Each and every party put together an election program in no time flat, but there wasn't enough time to compose a drinks menu here?" the bemused paper asked.

"This short election needs new long drinks," it insisted. "We're expecting Joschkapirinha in the Waehlbar," it added, referring to Greens' standard-bearer Joschka Fischer and the Caipirinha, a Brazilian drink that is all the rage among Berlin's fashion-conscious cocktail set.

"But the Bloody Merkel is probably too much to ask," it added.

With their double-digit lead over Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, conservative leader Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats have so far kept quiet on possible plans to open their own bar, where possible drink specials might include "Schroeder on the rocks."

Links:

Greens tout jobs focus in platform (from Germany.info)

Die Gruenen

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

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