Traffic light dispute over climate goals
Lindner reiterates the threat of driving bans
April 13, 2024, 6:49 p.m
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Transport Minister Wissing warns of possible driving bans if the Greens do not agree to reform the climate protection law. It’s not just the Greens who think this is a transparent political maneuver. FDP leader Lindner is now following up with an attack on the climate protection law.
After Transport Minister Volker Wissing, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner also warned of possible drastic mobility restrictions, including driving bans for combustion engines. Lindner appealed to his Green coalition partner not to block the reform of the Climate Protection Act. The climate protection law once introduced by the CDU is “deeply planned economy” and affects people’s freedom, said Lindner at the state party conference of the North Rhine-Westphalian FDP in Duisburg.
If the Greens do not give up their blockade of legal reform, “draconian restrictions on freedom up to and including bans on driving combustion engines” would be conceivable in Germany, said Lindner. The Greens should not jeopardize the acceptance of climate protection by “dramatic restrictions on freedom”. The current law could also lead to the federal government being sued because “unattainable goals in the field of transport are missed.” But one “cannot conjure up the fact that five million new electric vehicles will suddenly be registered”.
In a letter to the chairmen of the government factions of the SPD, Greens and FDP, Wissing warned of drastic cuts for drivers, including driving bans on weekends, if the coalition does not agree on a reform of the climate protection law soon. From the FDP politician’s point of view, only such tough measures would help to meet climate targets in the transport sector and massively save greenhouse gases – if the law is not reformed soon.
Did Wissing “shoot himself in the foot”
Green politicians and associations had accused Wissing of diversionary tactics and scaremongering. The North Rhine-Westphalian Transport Minister and Chairman of the Conference of Transport Ministers, Oliver Krischer, says that despite all his understanding of political escalation, it would be appropriate for Wissing to return to factual politics. “The problem is not the federal climate protection law, but a transport policy that is not aligned with the goals of climate protection and sustainability.” Krischer said that there were numerous transport policy measures on the table that would contribute to improving mobility as well as achieving climate protection goals.
Claudia Kemfert from the German Institute for Economic Research spoke of scaremongering. It is overdue for more climate protection to be implemented in the transport sector, she told the Funke media group. “A transport transition for climate protection is characterized by a variety of components, such as the abolition of the diesel tax privilege and company car privilege, the promotion of public transport and rail transport or a bonus-malus system to promote low-emission vehicles and electromobility.”
German Environmental Aid also accused Wissing of painting a bogeyman on the wall in order to prevent action. “In doing so, he shot himself in the foot because with this absurd example he helps us to be able to lead the political discussion about really possible alternatives, which a majority of German citizens have supported for years,” said DUH Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch to the editorial network Germany (RND).