The leaders of the traffic light coalition drew a positive balance after the cabinet meeting of the federal government in Meseberg, Brandenburg. “It was a very good cabinet retreat,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Monday afternoon of constructive discussions over the past two days. With a view to the high demand for workers, he emphasized that Germany would “leave the problem of unemployment behind” in the coming years.
Scholz said the government had managed in its first year to lead the country through the crisis triggered by Russia’s war of aggression. This created “an impetus for our country”, which should now be taken along in order to master the major challenge of the ecological transformation of the economy.
Scholz expressed his confidence that “we will shoulder this major task”. But every woman and every man would be needed as workers, including workers from abroad. “We need speed,” he emphasized, with a view to the restructuring of the economy and energy production, for example four to five new wind turbines would have to be built every day by 2030 and electromobility would have to be promoted.
“We are facing major challenges in terms of transformation,” said Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens). But he also pointed out that 20 years ago there was hardly any green electricity in Germany and that a lot had been achieved since then. Challenges “always seemed to be such a big mountain”, but there were “every chance of overcoming the big challenges. He was confident that we would get out of the exam and solve all the questions”.
“It was a good retreat,” said Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). With regard to the disputes in the coalition, he said that there were also many opportunities for informal talks in Meseberg. “That will also help us in our day-to-day political business in Berlin.”
