The Heinrich Böll Foundation, as an organization affiliated with the German Greens, feels a responsibility to respond to the unauthorized use of the symbols of the German Greens by a recently renamed political party in Serbia. Namely, it has been brought to our attention that there is a political party in Serbia that has registered itself under a comparable name, Savez 90/Zelenih Srbije (Alliance 90/Greens) and with the exact logo design as the German Green party, known as BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN and recognizable by its logo with the distinctive styling of the sunflower.
Hereby, we want to state that the two parties are not formally or legally connected, nor is there any form of cooperation activities that would allow the transfer of the German Greens' symbols or political credibility to this party.
The origin of the name BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN and the logo can be traced back to the history of the party. In 1980, the party Die Grünen was founded in West Germany. Bündnis 90 was an alliance of citizens' movements and opposition groups in East Germany that came into being during the period of the “Wende” culminating in the peaceful revolution from November 1989 to October 1990. The alliance was transformed into a political party in September 1991.
Bündnis 90 and Die Grünen signed an association agreement in November 1992. At an extraordinary federal assembly in 1993, an association agreement between Die Grünen and Bündnis 90 was adopted, and the two parties united to form BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN.
Whereas the sunflower is the typical logo of the Green parties, the specific sunflower of BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN is distinctive. The last design update of party logo was done by the agency M&C Saatchi. The logo is protected as a trademark with DPMA under number 302016209260.