The traffic light parties justify their waiver of a special session of the Bundestag to pass the heating law in different ways. A dispute over this was avoided for a short time. Now everything depends on the promise that neither faction will ask for changes again.
A joint statement is not enough. Reasons for the deadlines are given by Green Party leader Katharina Dröge as the reason why the top representatives of the traffic lights do not present their decision together to bring the heating law to a vote in September. Dröge, SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich and FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr presented themselves individually to the media – within an hour.
And they have a lot to explain: how they assess the short-term stop of the legislative process by the Federal Constitutional Court, who in the coalition is responsible for the fact that this novelty came about, what the reasons are for the theoretically possible special session in July to renounce.
The three justify the latter quite differently. “We also considered it,” says Dröge about a special session during the parliamentary summer break that begins on Saturday, for which the MPs would have to travel to Berlin from their vacation or their constituencies. “However, we are already seeing again that this question of a special session is also becoming the subject of the most intensive and sometimes heated political debates.”
However, it is the task of the parliamentary group leaders to protect the parliamentary process, says the Greens politician – a few hours after the judges in Karlsruhe raised doubts about this: precisely because the traffic light groups could have violated parliamentary rights, the court voted on the heating law prevented on Friday.
Scholz and Habeck agree
After Dröge, Dürr speaks and expresses his understanding of the verdict. “I can understand that, because after all, we in the coalition factions turned this bill by 180 degrees,” says the FDP politician. Dürr says “we”, but above all means his own party, as can be seen from his statements last week. In the morning, the top representatives of all three coalition parties looked together at how Karlsruhe justified the temporary stop. “Karlsruhe gave this hint and we recorded it and said we’ll do it after the summer break,” says Dürr. While this coalition body was still in session, FDP politicians like Michael Kruse had already publicly rejected a special session.
Not only did Dröge read the reasoning of the judges, but also SPD politicians Mützenich differently than Dürr. “The Federal Constitutional Court has twice pointed out to us that a special session would be possible,” said Mützenich to the broadcaster Phoenix. However, it is the right way to only vote on the heating law in the first week of the session at the beginning of September. Tenor: If it’s the same law coming anyway, a formal resolution six weeks earlier or later makes no difference.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he thinks the decision is reasonable. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck explains: “I think that’s a good approach.” Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor are no longer formally allowed to get involved in the legislative process, but their parliamentary group leaders will certainly have coordinated with them.
Can FDP keep promises?
The agreement is now based on the fact that the law, in the form planned for Friday, will be passed in September. So the citizens already have something like planning security, argue Dröge, Dürr and Mützenich in unison. The faction leaders have promised each other that none of their parties will make any more change requests.
For Christian Dürr in particular, this promise is a test of authority: “You have to see whether there is still a need for new changes,” said FDP politician Frank Schäffler on Deutschlandfunk in the morning. For months he has been stirring up sentiment against the law, welcomes the decision from Karlsruhe and holds the Greens solely responsible for the supreme court’s stop sign.
FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki made a similar statement during the course of the day. Even during the negotiation of the final draft law, one of the hurdles was that the willingness to find a compromise with the Greens varied greatly within the FDP parliamentary group. Now both parties are angry with each other again because the other party holds them solely responsible for stopping the proceedings. The spectacle took place at the beginning of the week under the same sign on the topic of canceling parental allowance for the upper middle class: representatives of both parties publicly pointed their fingers at each other.
Union wants to continue talking about the heating law
It seems unlikely that this mood will improve in the summer months, while behind the scenes the full extent of the draft budget presented on Wednesday is only becoming clear, postponements are being negotiated in the responsible committee and a resolution has to be found in September. Especially since Union faction leader Friedrich Merz is pushing for common changes. He will want to keep the topic high on the agenda, after all there are state elections in Bavaria and Hesse in October, and the heating law is not very popular, especially among property owners.
It is doing what the Greens and SPD had wanted to avoid at all costs: the heating law will remain at the top of the public agenda for at least four weeks before these elections. This should have a particular impact on the Hesse election campaign, where Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and State Minister for Economic Affairs Tarek Al-Wazir are running for the SPD and the Greens against Prime Minister Boris Rhein from the CDU.
The haste in the legislative process criticized by the Federal Constitutional Court and also by Bundestag President Bärbel Bas was in vain: the citizens still do not know for sure what to expect, while the political opponents and parts of the FDP can continue to agitate against the project as a whole. But at least the argument about the meaning, purpose and costs of a possible special session was cleared up within hours this Thursday. Sequel follows.