Information on traffic turnaround
Did Wissing say the untruth in “Maischberger”?
03/24/2023, 7:47 p.m
Transport Minister Wissing sees the transport sector on the right track to complying with the German climate targets. A group of experts from his ministry also certified that, the FDP politician explained on TV in January. But the first meeting with the experts did not take place until two months later.
The transport sector is one of two major problem areas in achieving the German climate goals. Transport Minister Volker Wissing in particular is therefore regularly dissatisfied – most recently in the so-called combustion engine dispute with the EU. But the FDP politician sees his plans in line with the energy and transport transition, as he made clear in the ARD program “Maischberger” in January: A group of experts from his ministry for climate-neutral mobility certified “that we are working with the proposals that we have done, can meet the climate protection goals,” said Wissing at the time.
However, according to one report, this statement is incorrect. The democracy portal “Frag den Staat” requested information from the Federal Ministry of Transport, citing the Freedom of Information Act, about the above-mentioned certificate from the Expert Council to Wissing. In the Answerthe “Ask the State” in the afternoon among others Twitter published, the ministry cannot offer any information on the expert group exchanges with ministers.
“Any right to access information presupposes that the requested information (…) is actually available,” begins the justification of the ministry. “A meeting between the Minister of Transport, Dr. Volker Wissing, and the Advisory Board on Climate Protection in Mobility (EKM) took place for the first time on February 22nd, 2023.” The earliest exchange between Wissing and the experts would only have been possible a month and a half after the appearance on “Maischberger”.
The reason for the TV appearance were the demands of the Green Federal Minister of Economics, Robert Habeck. He had previously stated that the transport sector in Germany had the greatest problems in meeting the climate protection goals and urged Wissing to set up a corresponding expert group in the Ministry of Transport. This requirement was “a bit strange,” said Wissing when asked about “Maischberger”. Because Habeck knows that this group of experts already exists: “It even certified to me that we can meet the climate protection goals with the proposals we made,” the FDP politician defended his work.