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Prime Minister Söder: "On the threshold of epochal changes"
Photo: Lino Mirgeler / dpa
It was in mid-July, shortly after the flood disaster in Germany, the floods had killed at least 180 people and taken thousands of their homes, and Markus Söder became pathetic.
»We are on the threshold of epochal changes.
Either we understand the warning calls and act, or we will be confronted with dramatic consequences in the long term, "said Bavaria's Prime Minister before the state parliament.
"We owe it to our children that we do not shirk responsibility out of fear of lobby groups, deniers or people who have passed away." Everyone now needs a "climate change".
And the parliamentary group of his CSU specified that they would now “take another close look at CO2 pricing and tighten the price trend”.
The CSU, CDU and SPD introduced this CO2 tax themselves.
It is expected to make petrol, diesel and heating oil more expensive by 15 to 17 cents per liter by 2025.
Less than four months after his climate change speech, the tree hugger and bee rescuer Söder became a petrol price protector.
Now that the Germans are no longer discussing the floods, but rather the high prices for fuel, gas and electricity.
Söder demands that the VAT on fuel and energy be reduced in order to "relieve the citizens of the worst hardships".
This is a direct contradiction to the decision of the Union-led federal government to further increase the CO2 tax at the turn of the year.
But CSU / CSU are nationwide anyway on the way to the opposition.
It is easier to challenge there.
And what about the "responsibility" for the children that Söder called for?
Time is running out.
If humanity continues to emit as many greenhouse gases into the air for eight years as it does now, the 1.5 degree target will be a thing of the past.
And every additional ton of CO₂ will heat the earth even more.
So that the climate crisis does not get completely out of control, the international community must push the emissions curve down: soon and radically.
This is what the current climate summit in Glasgow is all about, and it also applies to Germany.
Especially for road traffic.
Its emissions did not drop at all between 1990 and 2019.
More than 48 million cars are registered in this country, more than ever before.
And the engine power rises and rises.
New vehicles today have an average of more than 160 hp.
Accordingly, fuel cannot be so expensive for most car owners that they would have to be relieved of the worst.
Even if the diesel price reaches record levels, adjusted for inflation, it is hardly higher than in 2008 or 2013, for example. Average earners only have to work a third as long for one liter as they did 60 years ago.
According to the think tank Forum Ecological-Social Market Economy, no means of transport is subsidized more than the car.
If the state now artificially cheaper fossil fuels by cutting taxes, it will reduce the incentive for all of us to save fuel.
Or switch entirely to buses and trains, bicycles or electric vehicles.
Worse still, many of us will count on our politicians to continue to cushion any price spikes in the future.
This is not the case with Markus Söder's »Klimaruck«.
It's true: not all of us can change modes of transport that easily.
In rural areas in particular, there is often no alternative.
And yes: there are low-income commuters who have to save every cent more at the petrol pump elsewhere in their everyday lives.
But the state has to compensate those affected (and only they) directly: for example through a targeted energy subsidy.
But not by making fossil fuels cheaper for everyone - including high-income earners, who often drive a lot and commute a lot.
This is anti-social.
Every liter of fuel burned further heats the atmosphere, to the detriment of all of us.
Whoever causes these emissions has to pay for them.
If our political leaders really want to save our children without imposing driving, heating or operating bans, then they will have to make fossil fuels more expensive.
That’s what the CSU, together with the CDU and SPD, decided to do: with the steadily increasing CO2 tax.
Incidentally, the ruling parties only increased this again in October a year ago.
Consensually.
One can assume that Söder knew what his party was doing.
It gets even more expensive
Let's not fool ourselves.
The current high multiple energy prices will not remain unique.
Crude oil, gas and coal will become abruptly expensive again and again in the coming years and decades.
Especially when governments around the world really implement the much-vaunted energy transition.
Then raw material companies and their financiers will increasingly shy away from investing billions in order to continue to exploit their fields and mines as before - or even to open new production sites.
There is too much concern that in the end you will end up sitting on fossils that nobody needs or is allowed to consume.
Accordingly, these fuels are likely to become scarce and expensive again and again during this transition period, as long as people are dependent on them.
Populists and extremists à la AfD, Le Pen or Trump will cannibalize it.
Raising the mood against CO2 prices and energy taxes.
Demand new subsidies for the fossils, like in the good old days.
And they will win votes from dissatisfied with it.
For center-right politicians in particular, the temptation will be great to give in, to slow down, stop or even reverse change.
But that would mean - quote from Markus Söder - "to shirk responsibility for fear of lobby groups, deniers or people who have been yesterday."
Our children would have to pay for the missing backbone.
Markus Söder is the most powerful prime minister in Germany, possibly the next candidate for Union chancellor.
It will depend on leaders like him in times of change.
Hopefully the VAT number wasn't a foretaste.
