Germany’s tripartite government is finding it more difficult to compromise. Coalition members FDP and De Groenen openly criticize each other. While doubts about the leadership style of Chancellor Scholz (SPD) are increasing.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz would have preferred not to travel to the Netherlands last week. Nevertheless, canceling a visit to Rotterdam was not an option – the appointment had been on the political agenda for a long time. But what weighed more heavily: otherwise the Social Democrat would have sent the signal that Germany is in a political crisis.
So Scholz, pale after a short night of long coalition negotiations in Berlin, spoke to the press about European security and German-Dutch cooperation in the field of defense and hydrogen next to the ever-cheerful Prime Minister Rutte. Undoubtedly, the German’s thoughts drifted to the difficult negotiations at home.
Because only the next evening, after thirty hours of meetings behind closed doors, did coalition parties SPD, FDP and De Groenen come out with an agreement in their hands. Germany is speeding up 144 highway projects and is investing an amount of 45 billion euros in the construction and maintenance of the railway until 2027. An important victory for Liberal Ministers Lindner (Finance) and Wissing (Traffic).
Calm down
The Greens can already claim the ban on oil and gas heating for German households, which will be phased in from next year. The plan leaked a few weeks earlier and caused great unrest among citizens in Germany. ‘No one is left behind’, Ricarda Lang of the ecological party tried to calm things down last week.
The SPD can present a new ‘Klimakanzler’ with Scholz – just as the CDU did with Merkel at the time. Germany is going to build more wind turbines and solar panels, not only in meadows, but especially near the railway, along motorways and village streets. In addition, the expansion of the charging station infrastructure for electric vehicles must be accelerated.
‘Frontal Attack’
German climate organizations were immediately ready to crack down on the coalition agreement, mainly because of the stretching of the strict climate guidelines. “A frontal assault on climate protection,” is how WWF President Christoph Heinrich called the agreement. “The current climate law is completely washed out,” added Olaf Bandt, chairman of the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz.
Robert Habeck, minister of economic affairs (The Greens), also expressed his dissatisfaction with part of the agreement in an interview. “I am not telling a secret when I say that these measures will in no way lead to Germany meeting its climate targets in the transport sector. Wissing (FDP) will see that as well,’ Habeck told Weekblad That Zeit.
Bijan Djir-Sarai, the general secretary of the FDP, bounced back by stating that the climate goals could indeed be achieved with the support of the German people. ‘The climate minister Habeck must stop looking for a scapegoat. This is not how an office holder should behave,’ said Djir-Sarai Habeck to the dpa news agency this weekend.
The current climate law is completely washed away
This flares up the disagreement between De Groenen and FDP, even after the coalition agreement. In recent weeks, the parties have already openly attacked each other in German media. For example, Habeck was annoyed that the plans to ban oil and gas heating leaked out and accused coalition partners. Scholz tried in vain to appease the quarrel.
Debacle
‘The Scholz method no longer works’, concludes That Zeit. After the debacle surrounding the end of the combustion engine – Germany threw itself at the last minute for a European ban – and last week’s difficult coalition negotiations, the chancellor no longer seems able to bring the feuding partners FDP and the Greens together.
His greatest weakness remains his lack of communication. The frustration about this is particularly visible among Habeck and other members of De Groenen. In the meantime, they see how Scholz always chooses the side of FDP member Lindner, as in the debate about the combustion engine.
“Habeck is angry with Scholz and Lindner,” wrote Image last week. But conversely, there is also frustration about the lack of ‘sense of reality’ at De Groenen, according to the boulevard newspaper. According to Image the government fought “for its political life” last week.
Watch our news videos in the playlist below:
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss a thing of the stars.
