The acting SPD leader Malu Dreyer has set the tone on this Thursday, which now determines the debate on the climate package of the Grand Coalition: The SPD has indeed proposed to the Union, "that at least as a compromise with 20 euros begins," she told the " Tagesspiegel "on the criticism of the low CO2 entry price of ten euros from 2021, to which the coalition had agreed.
Means: It had not failed at the SPD, "it could have given us a higher price." Environment Minister Svenja Schulze argued quite similarly in the Bundestag debate on the climate package on Thursday morning: "I could have imagined more."
And now? Will the CO2 price be increased?
- Dreyer and Schulze apparently rely on the Greens, whose approval in the Bundesrat for some parts of the climate package is necessary. "We will talk openly with the Greens about how to get together."
- Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU), for his part, showed himself willing to compromise in the Bundestag. "Of course we have the option, if we are too low now, to follow up every year."
- The third coalition partner in the league, however, sounds different. CSU secretary-general Markus Blume made it clear with regard to Dreyer and the SPD that nothing works. A possible auscultation of the climate package will answer his party with a "clear no".
In fact, this GroKo debate pretty much reflects the course of the marathon session-night session last week, which ended with a compromise after about 19 hours of negotiations on Friday noon.
Coalitioners were fighting half the night over the price of CO2, and at the end there was a mixed model: it started with a fixed price per tonne of CO2, as the SPD wanted it, and then, in a few years, entered an emissions trading system, as the CDU put it. Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier had previously let his people calculate how the model could work. The officials had come to an entry price of 35 euros.
But both Social Democrats and Christsoziale did not want to participate. Because even more than the CDU, the two parties have the "S" in the name of fear of low-income voters and commuters who could take them higher fuel prices bad. The price should therefore be less than 35 euros, as were SPD and CSU agree.
No general criticism of the climate package
As a middle ground, 20 euros per ton appeared, Environment Minister Schulze was open to it, including the group chairman Brinkhaus, CDU chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and not least the Chancellor. This is how the participants report. One wanted to start with the climate tax, however, only in 2022.
Since the CSU started and suggested to start with only ten euros, but a year earlier. And in 2022 you would then land at the said 20 euros. Malu Dreyer is then at half past five in the morning have raised the question of whether ten euros are not too low. Again, she suggested the 20 euros, as participants report.
But the CSU was strictly against it, so strictly that Merkel should have said at this procedural point: More is not in the Union consensus, it remains at ten euros. (Read the reconstruction of the negotiation night here).
Although Dreyer may now follow her concerns during the marathon session with her cautious approach to the Greens: Ultimately, it was her Social Democrats in association with the CDU who negotiated the low carbon price.
Dreyer's initiative must not be misunderstood as a general criticism of the climate package. It is a signal of openness to rework. The SPD leadership remains the GroKo decision, even though many in the party were surprised by the vehemence of the critics.
So in the climate package, the SPD should not let the coalition fail. The internal pressure is nonetheless high, also because of the intra-party election campaign in the race for the party presidency. Juso CEO Kevin Kühnert told the "Rheinische Post" that GroKo would have to improve. It needs a social acceptance to convince the SPD party congress in December.
Even more important for the decision on the mid-term review, however, may be the land rent, negotiated on Friday to a GroKo working group. Should no compromise be found with the Union here, it would be much harder for the SPD leadership to convince the party of a continuation of the coalition.
Voice # 114 - Night Session at the Chancellery: How the climate package came about
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