Heating dispute defused
“The development process was a pure trust destruction machine”
By Marko Schlichting
06/14/2023, 06:09 am
The traffic light coalition members have been arguing about the heating law for weeks, and now there is a compromise. At Lanz, Konstantin Kuhle from the FDP has to defend himself against the accusation that the Liberals’ campaign against the plans was primarily used by the AfD.
The message came on Tuesday afternoon: the heating law, which is actually called the building energy law, will be discussed in the Bundestag this week. The agreement was announced after a crisis meeting attended by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner. It is not yet known exactly when the Bundestag will first debate the new draft law.
SPD, FDP and Greens have agreed on “guard rails” in which possible changes are outlined. The most important point: the heating law should be dovetailed with the planned law on municipal heating planning.
Further changes possible
He was not surprised by this solution, says the deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, Konstantin Kuhle, on Markus Lanz on ZDF. “Different parties are wrestling with each other, and now you have a bill that can go to the first reading.” The law by Federal Minister of Economics Habeck will not come about as it was presented, predicts Kuhle. There was great dissatisfaction among the population, which is why this decision was the right one, the FDP politician continued. “I know that the FDP in government approved the bill twice. But I’m a member of parliament and we decide for ourselves whether a law is passed or not. The Bundestag isn’t the government’s nodding device,” says Kuhle.
It is important for Kuhle that the municipal heat planning must first be regulated. In addition, the heating law must be open to energy. It is undisputed that there is an urgent need for a heating transition in the building sector. That will now be decided in Parliament.
The new head of the political department at Stern, Veit Medick, criticized Lanz’s coalition dispute over the past few months over the law. “The whole process of creating the law was a pure trust-destroying machine within the traffic light coalition,” says Medick. First, an expert draft was made public too early, then the FDP launched a campaign against the law within the coalition. “You can do that, but then you shouldn’t be surprised if a culture emerges from which only one party ultimately benefits, namely the AfD – and not the FDP,” says Medick.
Kuhle has a completely different opinion. When the Building Energy Act came into being, a lot of things happened that were completely normal with other laws. There was a heated discussion among the population, “because it’s about climate protection, and that’s a central challenge for the future and an area in which many people are afraid for their own wallets, for their own houses, for their own apartments. That’s it Problem.”
Medick may not accept that. The FDP politician Frank Schäffler, one of the sharpest opponents of the law, spoke of a “nuclear bomb for this country” and of an educational dictatorship. “That doesn’t correspond to a sensible political culture.”
According to Kuhle, Schäffler’s choice of words was not his. He cannot see that the FDP has sinned against the political culture. Nevertheless, he calls on all parties to think about “whether the way we talk about our political opponents is actually still okay.”
Faeser praises the decision
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser from the SPD is happy that the law can be discussed in the Bundestag this week. “A regulation about heating at home is something that affects people personally. I can understand the concern very well. But we have now reached an agreement in the coalition,” says Faeser on “Maischberger” in the first. The topic made the AfD stronger because people didn’t know what to expect. “The initial communication about the heating law and the allegedly strict regulations that were never actually included was certainly a trigger for the public’s uncertainty.”
According to the latest surveys, the AfD is experiencing a high mood. Some opinion research institutes currently see the right-wing populists in second place in terms of voter favor, ahead of the SPD and the Greens.