Friday 5th November 2021
Baerbock to traffic light negotiations
There is no “lid on it” when it comes to green issues
The traffic light negotiations have to become specific, where good will was sufficient during the explorations. The Greens are far from satisfied with what has been negotiated so far on climate protection and modernization.
They started with great enthusiasm on all three sides and are now apparently slowing down: According to Annalena Baerbock, the traffic light negotiations between the SPD, FDP and the Greens could drag on longer than initially thought. The negotiators in the coalition negotiations are “not yet so far that we can put the lid on,” said the Greens leader in the RBB.
“We need a new federal government that achieves change in this country, which not only writes progress on paper, but also solves it in the essential core areas,” said Baerbock. This renewal of the country should take effect in the next four years. “Four days more or less do not matter in the talks.”
Climate protection is the task of “all three parties”
Baerbock did not want to give any details from the negotiations. Confidentiality has been agreed. The climate protection task would have to be cross-sectional through a new federal government, the fight against global warming is the task of all three parties. “Then not only one party can be responsible for it.”
From the Greens point of view, this mainly affects the construction sector and the transport sector, where greenhouse gas emissions have not yet decreased sufficiently. “We are not yet ready to say that we have now set the course for getting on the 1.5-degree path.” In addition to climate protection, Baerbock also sees the modernization of administration and the condition of schools as central tasks.
The coalition talks are also about distributing responsibilities for the upcoming government. So-called “super ministries”, for example for climate protection and digitization, are also being discussed. Climate protection could be bundled in that the energy sector, which was previously part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, was transferred to the Ministry of the Environment, possibly supplemented by building, for which the Ministry of the Interior was previously responsible.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs could be expanded to become a digitization ministry and responsibilities from several other departments could be assigned to it. The Greens assume that they will get four to five ministerial posts. The grand coalition with 14 ministers currently governs.