Germany's resurgent Greens set the agenda as SPD flounders

Party is developing a taste for their opponents' blood and shaking up fiscal policy

Emboldened by unprecedented highs in the European elections in Germany, a surging Green party is discovering that it can set the political agenda in Europe's largest economy without having to be in power.

The party that was once derided for its plans for a meat-free "veggie day" at nationwide canteens is developing a taste for their opponents' blood: pushing other parties to adopt their policies, laying down red lines for coalition talks and even hatching plans to slay the country's holy cows on fiscal policy.

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