“Makes no sense”
Wissing does not want to meet the last generation again
May 3, 2023, 5:20 p.m
After a conversation between the Minister of Transport and three climate activists, both sides praise each other for the good handling. The Last Generation also announces that further meetings will follow. But it doesn’t look like that now.
After the meeting with members of the last generation, Minister of Transport Volker Wissing wants to leave it at one conversation for the time being. The meeting was “polite and respectful,” but it made “no sense to have further talks,” said the FDP politician in Berlin. He did not make another appointment with the activists of the climate protection group. These still had after the meeting written on Twitter, it was agreed to meet again. The group said there was “enough to speak for a follow-up meeting, so we remain in discussion with the minister.” According to Wissing’s statements, however, it does not look like that in the near future.
The transport minister met with three members of the last generation in Berlin for almost two hours on Tuesday. The group is known for its road blockades and above all demands a permanent nine-euro ticket for local transport and a 100 km/h speed limit on German autobahns. Both sides then spoke of a constructive discussion and agreed that urgent action was needed in view of the climate crisis. However, Wissing rejected both the demands and the type of protest by the group.
The last generation said of the meeting on Wednesday that this was the “start of an important exchange” that should be continued. The next conversation with Wissing should be planned when he “has presented an immediate program for the transport sector”. The federal government will “implement a whole series of climate protection measures in the coming weeks,” said Wissing. In the conversation, however, he also made it clear “that we are not negotiating politics”. It was simply an exchange in order to understand each other better.