MPs from the CDU and CSU have sharply criticized the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on the "climate emergency". They bother themselves with the term "state of emergency" and draw a comparison to the emergency regulation of 1933 in Germany.
"Anyone today calling for a climate emergency demands nothing more than decisions without democratic legitimacy and aims to override democratic rights," said CSU MEP Markus Ferber.
He added: "Either these people do not know what they are talking about, or they consider it legitimate to eliminate the democratic process, which is deeply disturbing, especially in the context of our German history and the year 1933."
In February 1933, an emergency decree of the Reich President Paul von Hindenburg had restricted fundamental rights and consolidated the power of the then newly appointed Chancellor Adolf Hitler.
The European Parliament had called this morning with a majority of Social Democrats, Liberals, Greens and Left the "climate emergency" for Europe. The resolution is a symbolic act, but it should build pressure for concrete legislation.
The CDU deputy Peter Liese argued similar to Ferber. "In Germany in particular, the use of the term" state of emergency "after Hitler's takeover of democracy abolished democracy and restricted fundamental rights such as freedom of the press," warned Liese. "The term primarily triggers fear and raises expectations of immediate action that Europe can not deliver." He spoke of effect-seeking symbolic politics.