The Greens have to swallow a few bitter pills at traffic lights. Now there is a risk of escalation. Internal power struggle, calculation or worry? An analysis.
Berlin – They were an unequal trio from the start: SPD, Greens and FDP in their traffic light coalition. Even before the first soundings, the FDP politician Stephan Thomae warned IPPEN.MEDIA from imbalances: “The partner furthest away from the Chancellor’s party must not feel like the superfluous, disruptive third party or as an unloved child,” he said at the time, in autumn 2021.
In the traffic light context, this meant the liberals. But after several state election defeats for the FDP and the resulting tough course in government cooperation, the situation suddenly seems different: Apparently, the Greens are getting cold feet at different levels on several issues. With regard to the climate law and the electoral law reform, the party and parliamentary group of Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock are now reportedly even considering throwing traffic light projects that have been decided on in a roundabout way – in the Bundestag or in the Bundesrat.
That would be quite an extraordinary scandal. However, the situation in the two cases is quite different. And from coalition calculations to power struggles, a lot seems conceivable.
Greens swallow a lot of bitter pills: MPs are now thinking about stopping the traffic light law
When it comes to climate and environmental protection, the Greens have been on the defensive for months Autobahn expansion they had to swallow a rather bitter pill – as well as in Lützerath or with the meanwhile extension of the nuclear power plant running times. On the other hand, an energy efficiency law that was also enacted by the chancellor is still stuck. Now a government-owned expert council has also torn up the traffic light climate law. On Tuesday (April 18), a first Green politician spoke of using the parliamentary emergency brake.
The Expert Council and the Climate Law
According to the Climate Protection Act, the independent expert council of the Federal Government must check the German emission data from the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and analyze the government’s programs for their suitability. He warned on Monday that the climate law would be relaxed. The coalition committee had recently agreed on the basics – to the dismay of environmentalists. The Climate Protection Act specifies specific CO2 upper limits for each individual sector for each year. In the future, however, it should be possible to compensate for missed targets by overachieving in one sector in another.
In view of the renewed failure to meet the requirements for transport and buildings, the responsible ministers must remain responsible, the committee demanded after reviewing the German climate balance for 2022. “A possible relaxation of the express departmental responsibility and the various considerations for changing the control mechanism in the Climate Protection Act increase the risk of future missed targets ‘ emphasized Vice-Chairwoman Brigitte Knopf. (rtr/AFP/fn)
That’s what Greens traffic expert Stefan Gelbhaar said. He said his party would not agree to a reform of the climate protection law, “which will be collected again in Karlsruhe”. Editorial network Germany. However, the Federal Constitutional Court “made it very clear that too vague sector targets or unclear CO₂ reduction targets are unconstitutional”. In 2021, Karlsruhe made a groundbreaking judgment in this regard.
Even after the marathon meeting of the coalition committee, there had been massive criticism from the Greens. Since a reform in the cabinet has not yet been finally decided, a veto in the Bundestag is still a long way off. However, Gelbhaar’s threat seems to be a clearly audible warning shot to his own ministers – and presumably at the same time a support in the negotiations in Scholz’s ministerial team. Whether the package can be untied again remains to be seen.
Internals of the Greens on the right to vote seep through: Concerns in the countries – group remains tough
The electoral law reform is much further: The Bundestag approved the traffic light plans in mid-March – also with the votes of the Greens parliamentary group. Since then, however, there have been massive allegations. Also, but not only because of the elimination of the “basic mandate clause”. This incision could theoretically cost the left and potentially the CSU the leap into the Bundestag, despite having won a few direct mandates. Both parties reacted with outrage.
According to reports, the traffic light also made people think about countermeasures. But the concern is apparently even greater among some Green Party politicians. Several representatives from federal states with Greens government participation would have in one internal discussion criticism of the deletion of the basic mandate clause expressed, will time online learned from party circles. The deletion created the impression that the federal government was using the right to vote to harm the opposition, argued the Hessian Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Al-Wazir, according to the report.
Even the fact that internals leaked out from the Greens is comparatively unusual. Even more astonishing, however, is an initiative that is apparently being discussed internally: there is probably the idea of stopping the law in the Bundesrat for the time being – and thus calling the mediation committee on the plan. In this way, the basic mandate clause could be saved without renegotiating the entire law.
In this case, however, the parliamentary group behind the traffic light decision. Officially anyway. “We clearly expressed our position on the right to vote with our voting behavior in the German Bundestag, and that was not long ago,” said parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge on Tuesday (April 18). Nevertheless look for information of Time Federal politicians from the Greens also criticized the abolition of the basic mandate clause.
Green levels in the veto scrub: is Scholz’ traffic light threatening more arguments?
Ultimately, the Greens in the Bundestag could not prevent a temporary halt to electoral reform in the Bundesrat. However, an objection in the state chamber would only delay the law. If the Bundestag – with its traffic light majority – is stubborn, the reform could still come unchanged. It is not “subject to approval”.
If the reports are correct, there will be a crunch at several points between the different levels of the Greens: between government representatives and members of the Bundestag as well as federal and state politicians. It is possible that the party below the ranks of ministers now fears the negative consequences of government participation. And bigger and bigger concessions. That wouldn’t be a new phenomenon: when Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer once supported the German army’s Kosovo mission, a bag of paint flew at a party conference.
However, the green pain in the traffic light can be even greater than it was with red-green back then – precisely because the FDP is by no means quietly standing in the corner as an “unloved child”. Should the Greens now resort to blocking measures, it could put the balance of power to the test again. However, it would not make governing any easier for Olaf Scholz and his cabinet. According to surveys, the ongoing dispute in Berlin is already met with resentment in the country. The FDP, which was geared towards confrontation, suffered comparatively little. (fn)
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