Climate policy: Robert Habeck complains about resistance in the traffic light coalition

The Greens have expressed massive dissatisfaction with the current work of the traffic light coalition. At the beginning of a closed conference of the parliamentary group in Weimar, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) accused the coalition partners of a lack of climate policy ambition. “It cannot be that in a progressive coalition only one coalition partner is responsible for progress and the others for preventing progress,” said Habeck.

The Vice-Chancellor listed a number of issues within the coalition, especially with the FDP – such as the heat transition with the planned phasing out of oil and gas heating, the end of the combustion engine and an immediate climate protection program for the transport sector. On all these points he complained about resistance in the coalition.

Habeck warned against trying to score points by slowing down climate protection policy in elections: “A federal election that rewards those politicians who have solved the least – we don’t feel like it.”

Habeck did not explicitly name the FDP as the addressee of his tirade, but his statements reflected a great deal of displeasure with the liberals. In recent months, the FDP, weakened by poor election and poll results, has repeatedly opposed the climate policy ideas of its coalition partner, the Greens. In Weimar, the economics minister criticized attempts “to make climate protection a culture war again and to take advantage of it for party tactics”.

Contrary to previous agreements, the demanding challenges of climate policy resulted in a “division” in the coalition that some have to worry about it and others less,” criticized Habeck. This means that the traffic light coalition is falling behind the goals it had set itself.

Co-Chairman Dröge: “We finally want things to move again in the coalition”

The co-chair of the Greens parliamentary group, Katharina Dröge, complained that climate policy had come to a standstill in the traffic light: “We finally want things to move again in the coalition.” In particular, she criticized the FDP Federal Minister of Transport, Volker Wissing, who refused an immediate climate protection program for the transport sector. Wissing is a minister “who doesn’t see it as his job at the moment to solve the problem,” said Dröge. The coalition leaders would have to talk about this at their meeting on Sunday.

Habeck called on the coalition to reflect on the strength of the country: The crisis year 2022 in particular showed that Germany can also master major problems quickly, he said. From this he draws the realization that “Germany can do it if it wants to – but you have to want it”. With a view to the coalition, Habeck added: “One can doubt at the moment that everyone really wants to.”

At their first closed meeting since the beginning of the legislative period, the Green MPs want to focus on the topics of climate protection and socio-ecological transformation as well as social change and cohesion. A draft resolution, which was announced in advance, which calls for the phase-out of coal to be brought forward from 2038 to 2030 in the east, has already sparked discussions. Criticism of this has already come from the coalition partners FDP and SPD.

At the beginning of the meeting, parliamentary group leader Dröge emphasized how important social security is for a successful climate policy. “The social aspect” is the “heart of our climate protection policy,” she said. Co-group leader Britta Haßelmann called for courageous action: “Really fighting the climate crisis through our actions requires decisions, that requires courage.”