In an interview, Christian Lindner was surprisingly open to a general speed limit on German autobahns. However, the FDP leader would attach a condition to his approval of a general speed limit.
In an interview with the political podcast “Situation of the Nation”, the FDP leader said: “I would be ready to say immediately: We will set a speed limit in Germany if the nuclear power plants run longer.”
Lindner’s statement is in blatant contradiction to the previous announcements from his party, from himself and also to the coalition agreement of the traffic light. And the Federal Minister of Finance knows that the Greens would hardly agree to the continued operation of nuclear power plants – especially not after the recent decision by SPD Chancellor Scholz to shut down the three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany in the spring of next year.
He himself considers the discussion about a speed limit to be “overestimated” and “minor”. “I think it’s totally stupid. It’s totally ideological, shows that it’s just about some hobbies – I would be willing to say: There is also a speed limit for the time when the nuclear power plants are running,” he affirms in the podcast.
With that, the FDP leader plays the ball into the Greens’ field and makes them a poisoned offer, so to speak. Because for the Greens, the fight to phase out nuclear power is one of the founding myths of the party, which is why Lindner labeled their no to nuclear power in the past as ideologically motivated. At the same time, the finance minister admits in the “state of the nation” with the flower that the FDP’s no to a speed limit is also motivated in this way: “If you needed an ideological scalp, I would even be willing to do it,” he says .
Nuclear power against speed limit, two “heart issues” as displacement mass. Will the Greens agree to the deal? The party has not yet commented on Lindner’s statements. But the debate could gain momentum again.
The “state of the nation” is one of the most successful political podcasts in Germany. Since 2016, the journalist Philip Banse and the lawyer Ulf Buermeyer have been discussing current developments in national and international politics almost every week and regularly invite guests to do so. According to the makers, the interview with Christian Lindner was conducted in Berlin last Friday and was published on Wednesday.
Sources: “Situation of the Nation” podcast, Christian Linder on the speed limit, FDP on the speed limit, coalition agreement
