German Greens unhappy with turn of coalition negotiations

The German Greens make no secret of this: they are not satisfied with the way in which their negotiations with the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Liberals (FDP) are unfolding with a view to forming a “traffic light” coalition. Believing that their demands are not sufficiently taken into account, they do not exclude, from now on, that the talks take longer than expected.

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According to the calendar announced by the three parties on October 21, it is in the week of December 6 that the Bundestag is to elect Olaf Scholz (SPD) as Federal Chancellor. Thursday, November 11, he assured that this schedule would be respected. “We don’t have much left to discuss”, said Angela Merkel’s likely successor, adding “To have known much more difficult times” in his career. The president of the FDP, Christian Lindner, displays the same optimism. In a daily interview Die welt, on Thursday, he said his party would make sure “That all the points still in dispute be clarified within the allotted time.”

The Greens, on the other hand, are much more careful. Asked about the RBB radio station on Friday, their chairman, Robert Habeck, said he was not ” not sure “ that the negotiations can be concluded on the scheduled date. In question: the absence of precise measures against global warming in the “coalition contract” being drafted. “On paper, the climate is still far from being saved. However, if we do not succeed on this point, the negotiations with a view to forming a coalition will be a failure ”, lamented Mr. Habeck.

Concessions made to the Liberals

In recent days, other environmental officials have expressed their concern, believing that too many concessions are being made to the FDP. While they only collected 11.5% of the votes in the legislative elections, against 14.8% for the Greens and 25.7% for the SPD, the liberals have, in fact, obtained several major guarantees, such as the no increase in taxes or respect for the “debt brake”, as well as symbolic commitments, such as the non-establishment of a speed limit of 130 km / h on the highway, dear to environmentalists.

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“What I hear say [de l’état actuel des pourparlers] does not seem good to me at all ”, declared the Green Winfried Hermann, Minister of Transport of the Land of Baden-Württemberg, on November 8, in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “If no agreement is reached on climate protection in the coming days, the risk of new elections cannot be ruled out. What no one can wish ”, he added. “At this stage, we cannot say that all the commitments are made to limit warming to 1.5 ° C [par rapport à l’ère préindustrielle] “, The Greens candidate for chancellery, Annalena Baerbock, was also concerned with reference to the target set by the three parties in their coalition pre-agreement of 15 October.

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