After around 30 hours of discussion, the traffic light government agreed on some of its biggest points of contention. But the criticism from the opposition is great.
For three days, the traffic light government discussed the major points of conflict, interrupted only by a trip to the Netherlands for government consultations. Then, on Tuesday evening, the agreement of the coalition partners was presented. (Read more about this here.) And promptly triggers sharp criticism from the opposition.
Left parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch said t-online about the result: “Very, very embarrassing!” An increase in truck tolls is “not a total work of art”, but a debacle for the traffic light government and a “chancellor with continuing weaknesses in leadership”.
After less than two years, there is no necessary sign of determination in the coalition. “The fact that after three days the three traffic light parties are only making vague announcements before the citizens and are hardly able to announce anything concrete is disgraceful,” continued Bartsch. “The fact that Habeck’s unworldly heating diktat survived the coalition committee is bad news for millions of citizens.”
Weidel: “There can be no talk of relief”
Alice Weidel, parliamentary group and party leader of the AfD, also sharply criticized the federal government after the end of the coalition committee. “There can be no question of a relief for the citizens,” said Weidel t-online. The “new Germany tempo” that the coalition is talking about is leading Germany “into the abyss”. “The only relief for the citizens that this failed coalition could still provide would be the resignation of the federal government.”
Weidel further commented on the 30-hour negotiations: “The mountain gave birth to a mouse.” The meager result of the coalition committee is that the “finance minister can announce that the completely absurd ideas of the economics and climate protection minister in terms of heating bans will be toned down and the Greens can continue to fantasize about the ‘heat transition'”.
“Scholz says goodbye as climate chancellor”
And there is also great criticism from the German Environmental Aid, which is close to the Greens. Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Federal Managing Director of the German Environmental Aid, told t-online that the Greens could, among other things, book an agreement on the Building Energy Act and a gradual farewell to oil and gas heating on the credit side.
At the request of the FDP, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), on the other hand, allowed the climate protection law he helped to pass to be weakened. “He says goodbye as climate chancellor and falls behind the demands of the previous government under Angela Merkel.”
Greenpeace criticized similar points: “By giving up the obligation to implement each individual sector goal, Chancellor Scholz (…) is acknowledging that his party’s greatest climate policy success, the Climate Protection Act, will be gutted,” explained Martin Kaiser, Executive Vice President of Greenpeace Germany.
Spahn speaks of “scoundrels”
Climate activist Carla Reemtsma sees the goals of the coalition missed. “Anyone who – shortly after the emission targets for traffic and buildings were missed – blocked concrete measures such as a ban on freeway expansion and a ban on gas heating does not want climate protection,” she wrote on Twitter.
Former Minister of Health Jens Spahn spoke on Twitter of “a lot of fluff” in the joint statement by the traffic light coalition. “I have now read the 16 pages several times: little that is concrete, several reservations, sometimes contradictory, a lot of nonsense, certainly nothing (sic!) that you would have to keep Germany in suspense for 48 hours.”
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Deputy CDU chairman: “I’m stunned in parts”
The deputy CDU federal chairman Andreas Jung also sharply criticized the results of the traffic light coalition committee. “I’m not only disappointed, I’m stunned in parts,” he said on Wednesday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. “Nothing was decided on the budget, nothing was decided on basic child security,” he explained.
Also in the question of heating, which became a contentious issue between the coalition partners, there are only generalities, no answers. “All questions are open. The dispute will continue,” said Jung.
The opposition politician criticized the traffic light course for climate protection. “We have to make progress on climate protection, but we have to combine it with the social component, with the economy, with sustainability across the board. That’s our way. That’s what we expect from the government,” he emphasized.
The economist Veronika Grimm, on the other hand, praised the results of the coalition committee. “It turns out to be positive that the coalition committee has taken its time,” Grimm told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post” (Wednesday edition). “Financing the expansion of rail through a truck toll is a good idea,” emphasized the member of the Advisory Council for the Assessment of Overall Economic Development.
