The traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP temporarily interrupted their top-level talks on Monday. The meeting is to be continued on Tuesday, as the German Press Agency learned from participants. The television station Welt had previously reported on the interruption. The consultations began early Sunday evening in the Chancellery.
Before the top meeting, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was optimistic that there would be concrete results. Those involved had “made good progress in trusting and constructive talks,” the parties said on Monday afternoon. However, the meeting was interrupted because of the German-Dutch government consultations in Rotterdam. “The talks of the coalition committee will therefore continue tomorrow morning.” In addition to Scholz, several ministers who also sat at the table with the coalition committee were to travel to the government consultations.
The heads of the traffic light coalition wanted to work through a long list of points of contention in the Berlin Chancellery. These include the future of motorway construction, the phasing out of oil and gas heating and the financing of the planned basic security for children. For months, the coalition had been arguing whether only railway lines and bridges should be built faster or also motorways. The FDP wanted the latter. Their argument: freight traffic on the road will increase significantly, congestion must be prevented. The Greens categorically rejected a faster expansion of motorways. Instead, they called for the federal railway to be significantly strengthened.
Above all, the Greens wanted efforts to improve climate protection in transport and had put pressure on Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP). For many months he has owed an emergency program with sufficient measures that permanently reduced CO2 emissions in traffic. The FDP has so far categorically rejected proposals such as a general speed limit on German autobahns and the reduction of certain subsidies. Instead, she insists that combustion engines that use artificial fuels generated with green electricity may still be approved in the EU after 2035.
In the past few weeks, the tone in the coalition had become much rougher. Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) had even complained about a breach of trust because a bill to replace oil and gas heating from his house was pushed through to the media.
Before the coalition committee, FDP politicians repeatedly urged discipline when spending money – especially with a view to the federal budget for 2024 that is now pending. FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai said before the summit: “All coalition parties must recognize the current financial realities. This includes the Adhering to the debt brake and prioritizing government spending.”
The coalition committee includes the party and faction leaders of the three traffic light parties as well as the chancellor and several ministers – a total of almost 20 politicians. In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed that the committee would meet monthly “to discuss fundamental and current political issues with one another and coordinate further work planning”. In practice, however, the committee has met far less frequently.
