The Greens do not Rule in Germany but they are important

A number of bloggers have commented that the Green Party rules in Germany. This is incorrect.
We have spent some time in Germany this past year as my husband is building a solar cell manufacturing plant near Dresden (it would have been nice to do that right here in Ontario, but the German government provided 35 million dollars and the German banks are willing lenders to small renewable energy businesses!).
In 2000 the Greens were part of the ruling coalition government - their major contribution in that position was the phase out of nuclear energy - Germany's 19 nuclear power plants are to be shut down completely by 2020.
In the most recent election in 2005, the Greens garnered about the same percentage of votes as earlier elections(8.1%) which in their system includes some proportional representation; they ended up with 51 seats (out of 614) in the Federal Assembly. Due to the nature of the coalitions (which are the norm in Germany) they along with two other parties are now in opposition to the ruling party.
The short time that the Greens had as part of the ruling Grand Coalition in 2000 is a major reason why Germany has a booming growing Green economy. While the Greens pushed the government to support renewable energy industries for environmental reasons, it soon became apparent to all of the parties that the investment in renewable energy was a great way to create jobs! Ever since unification, Germany has had to struggle with huge unemployment (20%) in the former Eastern States. They are wrestling this monster with large targeted investments (which we are now part of) in renewable energies. You can check out what we are doing at www.arisetech.com.
Cathy MacLellan, CEO Kitchener-Waterloo Green Party EDA