The traffic light coalition has not come to rest two weeks after its controversial climate decisions. Former Greens parliamentary group leader Anton Hofreiter believes that the relationship with the SPD with Chancellor Olaf Scholz is permanently impaired.
“The Scholz-SPD is no longer the natural ally of the Greens,” said the chairman of the European Committee in the Bundestag of the “Welt am Sonntag”. Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens), on the other hand, appeased and, after the anger of the past few days, called for a return to work.
“Proximity to the FDP cannot be denied”
Two weeks ago, in a three-day marathon meeting, the coalition leaders agreed to relax the strict rules for compliance with climate protection goals. In addition to billions in investments in railway lines, the expansion of the motorways at 144 points was decided. The results caused displeasure among the Greens, while the SPD and FDP were satisfied.
The SPD member of the Bundestag, Joe Weingarten, now sees his party becoming increasingly close to the FDP. “In the SPD, the interests of employees and industry are more in focus. Our economy operates worldwide, it is the backbone of our prosperity, which cannot be burdened at will. With this attitude, a substantive proximity to the FDP cannot be denied.” , he told the “Welt am Sonntag”. On the other hand, he criticized the Greens’ pressure to switch to climate-friendly heating systems: “People have to calculate. We have to take that into account, the Greens also have to learn to make politics according to their election results.”
“The sound was sometimes too harsh”
In an interview with the Funke media group, Habeck admitted that the coalition had “not presented a nice picture” in recent weeks. “Sometimes the tone was too harsh. In this case, however, it is necessary for us to struggle with each other to find the right solution,” he said. “We don’t want to make ourselves comfortable and sit it out like the grand coalition.”
“Human understanding” in the coalition is very good, said the Economics Minister. “Despite many challenges and a lot of work, we also laugh a lot.” But Habeck emphasized: “It is important that we concentrate on the actual task of acting for Germany – and not for our own Twitter followers.”
