Germany's Greens attempted to put a brave face on the departure of Mr Oskar Lafontaine from the government and pledged loyalty to the Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder.
"We are extremely pleased that Chancellor - and now SPD chairman - Schroder has made unambiguously clear that he stands by the current coalition with the Greens and intends to continue it," said the Greens' parliamentary leader, Mr Renzo Schlauch.
Mr Schlauch even attempted to reassure industry that his party was in tune with the Chancellor's pro-business instincts and was happy to abandon the confrontational style favoured by Mr Lafontaine.
"We now want to send a positive signal to the economy and companies. Lafontaine's resignation has prompted all groups in society to reconsider whether they have done enough to bring down unemployment in Germany," he said.
Other Green leaders made similar protestations yesterday, but there is no doubt that the position of the environmentalist party within the German government has been seriously weakened by Mr Lafontaine's resignation.
As a standard-bearer for the ideological left, Mr Lafontaine was anathema to both the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Liberal Free Democrats (FDP), making a coalition with the Greens the only option available to Mr Schroder.
The Chancellor insisted yesterday that he remained committed to the present coalition but, as the Greens already know to their cost, Mr Schroder's promises often have a short shelf-life. After all, he insisted last week that he would not be willing to take over the chairmanship of the SPD, the job he accepted yesterday.
The fact that an alternative coalition partner now exists may concentrate the minds of the Greens in government and persuade them that they have little choice but to go along with the Chancellor's plans.
But many Green activists are already unhappy with the government's performance and are angry that the party's two key pieces of legislation, a new citizenship law and a bill to withdraw from nuclear energy, have both been substantially watered down.
The Greens are currently engaged in an internal debate about reform, with senior figures such as the Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, insisting that the party must change if it is to evolve. The party's membership is ageing, young people are turning away from Green politics and recent election results have been little short of disastrous.
Mr Fischer wants the Greens to become more like a conventional political party, with a single chairman, possibly himself, rather than its present leadership duo. He also wants to see an end to the system whereby elected representatives are obliged to give up their party posts.
A party convention in Erfurt last month rejected the reform plan, but Mr Fischer and his allies are determined to continue their campaign.
The Greens' weakened position in government may strengthen the Foreign Minister's hand as he seeks to persuade his party colleagues that they need to adopt tougher tactics to survive in Germany's new political order.