Germany, agreement for the new government reached: farewell to the Merkel era
Farewell to the era of the longtime chancellor Angela Merkel. A new phase is now opening for Germany, with the German leader of the center-left at the helm of the government Olaf Scholz together with the three parties of the traffic light coalition: social democrats, greens and liberals. The agreement, drawn up in recent weeks, was announced by Scholz himself with these words: “The traffic light coalition is standing”, adding the desire to establish a permanent crisis unit at the chancellery to fight the coronavirus.
In new German coalition government, at the Spd they will go six ministries, five to the greens And four at the Fdp. In particular, the super-ministry that combines economy and climate will go to the ecological party, and those of Foreign Affairs, the Environment, Agriculture and Families: the green leader Annalena Baerbock should take the lead of that of Foreign, to the co-president of the Greens, Robert Habeck, finally, the chair of the “super ministry” of the Climate, which are expected to be allocated substantial resources for the investments necessary for the green transition
The Liberals will assume the leadership of the departments of Finance, Transport, Education and Justice. In particular the Finances would go to number one of the Liberals, Christian Lindner, supporter of the rigor on the subject of public finances. The SPD, on the other hand, which will be expressed by the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will have control over Interior, Defense, Health, Work, Economic Cooperation, Construction.
Germany new government, minimum wage and family support measures
Minimum wage of 12 euros per hour, supplementary pensions and basic family allowances: these are some of the measures agreed by the Social Democratic Party (SdP), the Greens and the Liberal Democratic Party (Fdp) in the draft coalition agreement of the future German government. The “coalition partners have also agreed to guarantee the pension level and exclude pension cuts and raising the retirement age“, reads the text published by the newspaper” Handelsblatt “, while with the measure relating to the minimum wage there will be” a wages increase for around ten million people“.” We are introducing the basic family allowances, in which we group all the previous benefits of financial support “, reads the document, according to which this assistance tool is automatically calculated and will directly help the minors.
SpD, Verdi and Fdp also intend to modernize the welfare state with the introduction of a citizen’s income. In the field of housing policies, the three parties will apply a brake on rents and will limit the increase in rents to 11 per cent in three years. The threshold is currently at 15 percent. They will then be built 400,000 apartments a year, of which 100,000 are financed with public funds. In health, SpD, Verdi and Fdp want to implement “better economic rewards and better working conditions” for hospital workers. At the same time, carers for the elderly must be adequately remunerated with improved wages.
Germany new government, climate and decarbonisation
In terms of climate protection, the next federal government wants to phase out fossil fuels. To this end, the decarbonization of Germany should be “ideally” anticipated from 2038 to 2030, with the parallel abandonment of internal combustion engine technology. From 2030, a total of 15 million electric cars will have to circulate on the country’s roads. from 2030. Furthermore, SpD, Verdi and Fdp intend to commit to a minimum price of CO2 emissions in the EU.
The fight against the climate crisis is, in fact, “a task of humanity”, with Germany having to achieve climate neutrality by 2045 at the latest. To this end, the next German government intends to massively expand renewable energies and strengthen planning processes for the construction of networks, wind turbines and infrastructure. At the same time, they are expected investments in hydrogen on an industrial scale. In this context, Germany will have to “actively promote innovations” and establish “new technological standards” in the development of a climate-neutral industrial sector.
In the face of rising energy prices, SpD, Verdi and Fdp will allocate a one-off heating subsidy to low-income families, during this winter. The three parties then agreed to reduce the age for exercising the right to vote from 18 to 16 years. The next German executive also plans a major one development of electromobility, with a nationwide charging infrastructure.
The government pact reads: “The heart of modern sustainable mobility is a strong public transport system and modern German Railways (DB) as part of public services”. SpD, Verdi and Fdp intend to commit 3.5 per cent of GDP to research and development activities and accelerate project planning and approval procedures. The three parties then aim for a decisive digitization, equipping the infrastructures with the necessary information technology. In addition, the computer interfaces will be standardized between the federal government and the Laender. Finally, SpD, Verdi and Fdp plan to reduce bureaucracy and develop digital administration.
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