Heating dispute in the “early start”
Hofreiter: “The problem is that the chancellor doesn’t care”
05/26/2023 10:39 am
In the traffic light, there is a loud argument about the heating law from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Green politician Hofreiter finds disputes normal. But: Chancellor Scholz is not concerned with solving the conflict. “And then it gets complicated,” he says in “ntv Frühstart”.
Green politician Anton Hofreiter accuses Chancellor Olaf Scholz of a lack of leadership in the traffic light heating dispute. The main problem of the coalition is not that they are sometimes far apart on these issues, Hofreiter explained in “ntv Frühstart”. That is normal for very different parties. “The main problem is that the chancellor doesn’t care that something is implemented when it has been agreed,” criticized Hofreiter. Instead, the topic will be reopened.
The Green politician refers to a survey: “More than 80 percent say the chancellor needs to take more care of it.” It is not the task of the Greens alone to implement things that have already been decided, but it is the task of the entire coalition and in particular of the Chancellor and the Chancellery. He doesn’t care about resolving the conflict, “he’s not involved,” says Hofreiter, “and then it gets complicated.”
A quick agreement is possible, because there are still enough weeks of meetings before the summer break, but the Greens are skeptical that it will succeed. The FDP is playing for time because large parts of the party actually completely reject the heat transition. Hofreiter can understand that there is also a lot of rejection and skepticism among the population, but the heat pump technology is tried and tested and already widespread in many European countries. Ten times as many heat pumps are in use in Finland and Norway than here. Germany is also following the others here.
In “ntv Frühstart”, Hofreiter also advocated the delivery of German cruise missiles to the Ukraine. It is absolutely important that Ukraine gets a lot of ammunition. “And the Bundeswehr has Taurus. It is somewhat controversial whether Ukraine can use them, but if it is technically possible to use them, we should definitely deliver them, just like the British did,” said the chairman of Europa Committee of the Bundestag.
Regarding the proposal by the Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council, ex-President Dmitri Medvedev, to divide Ukraine between Russia and several EU countries, Hofreiter said: “No, I think that’s in the tradition of the absurd claims from Russia that it’s actually Ukraine doesn’t exist.” Russia and the Russian leadership must recognize that “this is a sovereign country that they invaded. And there will be peace when they withdraw their soldiers.”