Whe is looking for rifts that may have opened up between the coalition partners at the closed traffic light meeting on Sunday and Monday, should not begin at dinner. The – reportedly random – seating arrangement in the guest house of the federal government in Meseberg, north of Berlin, made for a colorful mix regardless of the party books.
Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, who belongs to the Greens, sat next to the head of the transport department, FDP man Volker Wissing, who is currently fighting for easier planning of motorways. The Social Democratic Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had landed alongside Justice Minister Marco Buschmann from the FDP, and his party leader, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, ate his meal alongside Family Minister Lisa Paus, who belongs to the left wing of the Greens. Did you talk about basic child security? In any case, on Monday morning there was talk of constructive cooperation. He doesn’t have the impression that the coalition partners are arguing “like tinkers,” said Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir from the Greens.
On Monday afternoon, the three from the zanzstelle, which doesn’t want to be one, stepped in front of the microphones. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Lindner praised the quality of their talks. Scholz summed it up like this: “It was a very good cabinet retreat, informative, instructive and – Robert and Christian will certainly confirm that right away – also very constructive.” That should probably mean that one is by no means as divided as the debates of the previous ones Weeks about combustion engines, the financing of basic child security or the acceleration of planning for motorways could have made you believe.
Linder marked the FDP position
All in all, “Robert and Christian” confirmed the boss’s description of the state of the coalition. However, the Minister of Finance could not quite refrain from reaffirming the position of the FDP on the subject of combustion engines, that such engines should be operated with so-called e-fuels, i.e. fuels that are synthetically produced with renewable energies. With a slight rhetorical stamp of his foot, Lindner said: “No final political decision will be made about the drives in private cars.” This position of the FDP was already clear in the course of the exploratory talks with the SPD and the Greens immediately after the federal election. Even before the three appeared, Wissing had said that they were well on the way to reaching agreement on the subject of the combustion engine and integrating openness to technology into the EU Commission’s proposals.
Lindner also made a small but clear contribution to the contentious issue of basic child security. He was “one hundred percent confident” that agreement would be reached on making the services more easily available. Of course, that didn’t mean that more money was spent on services.
Scholz, Habeck and Lindner were also asked a question about the further course of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the goal of the federal government. “Everything has been said” on this, the Chancellor replied and reiterated his support for Ukraine with the usual statements. The fact that Meseberg was obviously little about the war, about howitzers and tanks and much about other topics (some of which have to do with the consequences of the conflict) shows that the meeting took place at a turning point.
After the first red-green-yellow coalition was formed at federal level after the federal elections in 2021, the main focus for twelve months was the “turning point”. But even though the war in Ukraine may still be a long time coming, the German government is now increasingly turning to its original goals, which were laid down in the coalition agreement.
The Chancellor made this clear on Sunday afternoon when he appeared in Meseberg with the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. There are “many questions that are currently on our minds,” said Scholz. “Of course, the most important question is: How do we manage to stop man-made climate change?” That is “the perspective” that is associated with many upheavals. It is therefore very important that many of the investments that are necessary so that the “economy of the future” can also “develop strongly” in Europe take place in Europe. Scholz went on to say that the consequences of the American Inflation Reduction Act and what else was connected with it had been dealt with “in great detail”.
Scholz: The focus is on people
Then the Chancellor mentioned other top issues, in which at least the economic consequences of the Russian attack on Ukraine play a role. He was pleased that the sharp reduction in Russian energy supplies to Europe had survived without an energy crisis and with a stable economy. In addition to the question of how to succeed in developing technologies that would be needed to stop climate change, the focus is on digitization and artificial intelligence “and all the decisions” that are “important for the future”.
He added that “all the activities that we have to undertake” focus on people, that job opportunities in Europe are important for young people, for older people, for women and men. The European Union must make good use of the migration of skilled workers. That was also discussed “in depth and intensively” in Meseberg. Only then, as a “last comment”, did the Federal Chancellor mention: Of course one cannot speak “without also taking a look at the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine”.
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