Leading lights of Germany's Green party can sound like Zen masters. "Only one who changes can stay true to himself," intones Renate Kuenast, co-chairman of the Greens in the Bundestag. Ludger Volmer, once party chairman, speaks of the "art of inconsistency". Koan-like utterances come naturally to a party that grew out of youthful protests in the 1970s, became an "anti-party party" in 1980 and then wielded power as part of a centre-left government from 1998 to 2005.
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