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Two days after the announcement of the Federal Government's climate package, the Chancellor and the Minister of Defense fly to the US East Coast - in separate aircraft. Now the question is whether politicians could not have traveled together.
After SPIEGEL information, the authorities had initially tried to plan the trips together. Accordingly, the Chancellery had specified that the delegation of Kramp-Karrenbauer should be less than ten people in order to fly. However, the Secretary of Defense's protocol had earmarked a dozen officials, military and bodyguards for the trip.
These are now flying with Kramp-Karrenbauer in an Air Force A310. This machine is actually used for troop transports to Afghanistan or Mali and resembles the comfort of a vacation plane. Because of the bottlenecks in the VIP flyers and Kramp-Karren Bauer predecessor Ursula von der Leyen had used in recent months more often on this aircraft.
From the ranks of the Greens comes sharp criticism of the process. "The handling in the Federal Government with the machines of the flight readiness has the level of small children who argue about sand molds," said the defense policy spokesman Tobas Lindner the SPIEGEL.
More about the climate crisis
"The additional flight is not only ecologically nonsensical, but also a waste of tax money," Lindner continued. He wants to discuss the government's frequent flyer in the Budget Committee next week.
According to SPIEGEL information, one hour's flight of a government machine costs between € 24,000 and € 35,000, according to internal documents of the Federal Armed Forces. The additional aircraft for the journey Kramp-Karrenbauer should cost at least 360,000 euros in this case.
Merkel will fly to the United Nations Climate Summit on Monday this Sunday, and will attend the United Nations General Debate in New York. Her colleague Kramp-Karrenbauer flies to a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
It was originally planned that Kramp-Karrenbauer and her delegation would fly in the Chancellor's machine, in which Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU) and Minister of the Environment Svenja Schulze (SPD) are also traveling. The Airbus A340 was to land in New York and then fly on to Washington.
The tickets were already ordered
Because Kramp-Karrenbauer already travels back to Germany on Monday evening, she wanted to take a scheduled flight for the trip home. The tickets were ordered. The Ministry of Defense has not officially commented on why these travel plans were changed.
"In the course of planning this trip, we have tried to optimize the use of the aircraft," said a ministry spokesman for "Bild am Sonntag". Flight planning and aircraft patterns were based on the destination airport, the route, the size of the delegation and the scheduling commitments of the government members.
In any case, the Chancellor's plane must also fly to Washington, the destination of the Secretary of Defense: the aircraft must not stop at New York Airport.
The Grand Coalition had announced a 22-page key issues paper on Friday, which will promote climate protection in Germany and make the political goals for 2030 achievable (Read more about the resolutions). Among other things, the air traffic is to be reduced by higher ticket prices.
