The Greens and the FDP are fighting each other
Motorway dispute turns out to be coalition poison
2/7/2023 6:36 p.m
The tone in the traffic light is becoming more belligerent: the Greens call the FDP “acceleration brakes”. The Liberals countered and described the coalition partners as “enemies of progress”. The core question is whether motorways that have already been approved should be built quickly or slowly.
The coalition dispute about faster planning procedures in traffic is intensifying. FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai accused the Greens of an “ideological fight against the streets”. Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge had previously criticized: “The FDP must be careful not to become an accelerator in this coalition on issues where we could move forward together.”
In the governing coalition, there has been a dispute over faster planning procedures in traffic for weeks. The liberal Minister of Transport, Volker Wissing, not only wants to build bridges more quickly, but also motorways. The Greens reject that. A meeting of the coalition leaders had not brought a breakthrough. Wissing argues that the road plays a crucial role in the transport of goods. “Standstill in the infrastructure sector” cannot be the answer. “That’s why I’m fighting to ensure that road and rail can be built faster,” he said on Monday.
Green: bridges yes, highways no
Green parliamentary group leader Dröge said before a parliamentary group meeting in Berlin that the coalition could go ahead where planning acceleration was really necessary. Far too many bridges in this country are dilapidated. The Greens are immediately ready to speed things up here. She also criticized that the Greens had long been asking Wissing to present concrete measures for more climate protection in the transport sector. The answer, however, was the acceleration of road construction. In the transport sector, completely different topics have to be discussed. Dröge mentioned a speed limit or the reduction of environmentally harmful subsidies.
FDP General Secretary Djir-Sarai reacted sharply to the criticism. “Ms. Dröge seems to have lost touch with reality – the only ones who are slowing down the much-needed acceleration of planning are the Greens,” he said. For months, the FDP has been pushing for all infrastructure projects in Germany to be planned and built more quickly. “But since the Greens are waging an ideological fight against the road, which also needs climate-neutral modes of transport to drive, there is no progress.” It does not help the climate if already planned transport infrastructure is built particularly slowly.
“The Greens have to be careful that they don’t ultimately become a party hostile to progress,” said Djir-Sarai. Wissing presented a plan that would make a climate-neutral transport system possible. “The Greens are blocking here.” The deputy FDP federal chairman Johannes Vogel said: “We cannot allow ourselves a speed limit in planning and approval processes.” The Greens’ objections to accelerating road construction are not a contribution to climate protection, but only to slowing down.
“Take a close look again”: Mützenich wants to arbitrate
The SPD in the Bundestag was confident that the dispute would be resolved. “I believe that a graduated catalog of measures is possible,” said SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich. “We’ll have to take a closer look at that now.” He is “firmly convinced that it is very important to accelerate planning overall – both for the infrastructure sector and for the transport sector, where gaps are to be closed”. In addition, Mützenich referred to a decision by the Bundestag planned for Friday to accelerate administrative court proceedings in the infrastructure sector. This is important.
Dröge had criticized the SPD for not taking a clear stance on climate protection in the dispute over accelerating road construction. “The SPD is just watching,” she told the “Bild am Sonntag”. In “ntv Frühstart” on Monday she said: “In such debates you can’t stand on the sidelines like a spectator and say, come to an agreement, everything is fine with us.”