GREENS START WORK MANAGING GERMAN STATE GOVERNMENT

The Green Party in the western German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg is beginning another term in power as part of a coalition that could be a foretaste of the national government after the September elections.

The Greens, led in the state by popular veteran Winfried Kretschmann, recently signed a coalition agreement with the Christian Democrats (CDU) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right party, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

The two will share a platform that Kretschmann has previously dubbed "the greenest coalition contract of all time," with extra support for wind and solar power, as well as vows to undertake electoral reform. During the weeks-long negotiations, the CDU side emphasized the need for the state to have solid and sustainable finances.

State parliament speaker Muhterem Aras was elected for a second term, saying that her election - as a woman from a migrant background - showed what was possible in German democracy.

Baden-Wuerttemberg is the only state in the country where the Greens are the senior partner in a coalition, having won 31.6 percent in the March elections.

A sustained surge in support for the Greens nationwide, according to opinion polls, has led to speculation that the party could form a similar coalition at the federal level with the CDU after the September elections.

Another possibility, if the Greens continue to grow in popularity, is that they could even bypass the CDU to form a three-way coalition with left-wing parties.

The Greens are currently polling nationally at around 23-26 percent, either neck-and-neck or slightly ahead of the CDU.

The CDU's current coalition partners at the national level, the Social Democrats, are languishing around 15 percent.

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