Germany is still in shock. Four days after Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called for federal elections to be moved up by a year to the autumn of 2005, German journalists and editorialists remain in a tizzy over the political upheaval. On Tuesday, two more aftershocks hit. The first was perhaps to be expected. Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD) and the Green Party under Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer -- who have governed Germany together since 1998 -- have announced that, instead of closely coordinating their campaigns as they did in 2002, they are going to be campaigning separately this time around. The second was the withdrawal of former party leader Oscar Lafontaine from the SPD -- a move that opens up the possibility of a coalition of smaller parties campaigning with Lafontaine to the left of the SPD. Both issues are discussed in Germany's dailies on Wednesday.

In view of the SPD-Green split, the Financial Times Deutschland prints what amounts to an obituary of the Green Party on Wednesday. Indeed, the paper points out, the markets have already bid farewell, with the stocks of larger energy concerns on the rise -- due to speculation that the Green Party's desire to shut down Germany's nuclear power reactors may now be delayed -- and green power companies' stock falling rapidly. "The Green Party," the paper writes, "is no longer in demand for the political shaping of Germany." The paper does, however, point out that the Greens have made a number of positive contributions to the German political landscape in recent years. Germany's progressiveness on environmental issues is a major legacy of the party as are great strides in social issues such as women's and gay rights. Indeed, "that a conservative woman (Christian Democrat -- CDU -- leader Angela Merkel) and a liberal homosexual (Guido Westerwelle of the liberal party -- the CDU's likely coalition partner, should the CDU win the election) have a realistic chance to take over power in Germany is due to the Greens." But, in the end, "the shine of the Green Party has faded."

Germany's other financial daily, the Handelsblatt agrees. The paper feels that without Chancellor Schroeder's Social Democrats at their side, the Green Party's "limited profile in economic, social and financial issues will become visible and their lack of an answer to the unemployment crises will become obvious." Indeed, the paper sees Schroeder's rejection of the Greens in the just-starting campaign in a positive light. For too long, it writes, Schroeder has allowed the Greens to hamper him with their core issues of renewable energy, homosexual marriage and hostility to nuclear power. "The Social Democrats were, in their best times, socially conservative and, when it comes to industrial policies, modernist. And that's what Schroeder wants to return to." And in the end, "the voters have realized that the (Greens') recipes from the 1980s are no longer suited to the global village of the 21st century."

Not surprisingly, the Green-friendly Die Tageszeitung devotes two editorials to the Greens. The first one considers Schroeder's announcement that he wants to campaign without the Greens at his side this time around. The Greens, writes the paper, must act: "if its ministers still have even a spark of self-respect, they should quickly withdraw from the governing coalition and campaign as an opposition party." This strategy would not, of course, return them to power in a governing coalition. "But there can be no more doubt ... that the SPD-Green coalition doesn't exist anymore."

The second editorial argues that with the Greens likely going into the opposition after the autumn elections, the party needs to reinvent itself now. After all, the party started as a vocal and idealistic alternative to the establishment. But after seven years of being part of the government, much of that idealism has been sacrificed to the mantra of responsible governance. "There is no going back for the Greens," the paper argues and says the party needs an entirely new self image. Just a few changes in personnel won't be enough.