The Greens executive in the northern city-state of Hamburg agreed to call for new elections, a spokeswoman said, ending a two-year-old coalition that had been a test case for collaboration between the ecologist party and the center-right.
Analysts had seen the government as a possible model for cooperation at Germany’s federal level in the future, although the idea of rapprochement had lost steam in recent weeks as the parties stepped up criticism of each other.
The Hamburg move could pose a fresh headache for Merkel, who earlier this month ruled out any new coalition with the Greens, calling the idea “madness” and accusing them of blocking progress.
But the Greens have been ascendant in the polls of late and they set aside internal ideological squabbles at party congress last weekend to focus on unseating Merkel’s conservatives in six state elections due next year.
The Greens, which have evolved from a leftist splinter group three decades ago into the world’s most successful environmental party, now stand to lead two regional governments next year if voting unfolds as predicted so far.
Polls show the Greens leading both the CDU and SPD in the city-state of Berlin, and looking set to head a future coalition with the SPD in the large, affluent southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg in what would be unprecedented breakthroughs.
