From our correspondent in Berlin
Two of the three parties that will govern Germany have different ideological foundations. The Greens and the FDP, who both share a young and liberal electorate, nevertheless campaigned together to have the future government adopt a proposal to legalize cannabis. The project appears on page 87 of their coalition contract, presented Wednesday in Berlin, which has 177. It breaks with years of security policy, favored by the CDU, in terms of drugs.
"We are introducing the controlled distribution of cannabis to adults for recreational purposes in licensed stores, which helps to control quality, prevent the distribution of contaminated substances and protect public health
," write the authors of the document.
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Under the modest slogan
"to dare more progress"
deployed in a large hall of the German capital, it is one of the most rowdy measures advocated by the SPD, Die Grünen and the liberals of the FDP, all in one platform stingy with surprises.
At the rostrum, the future Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz was seated, flanked by the five presidents and co-presidents of his party and that of his partners, three of whom will become ministers.
The first rows were occupied by the caciques of the three parties who, on occasion, attempted discreet applause: behind them were journalists who were not necessarily benevolent and a Covid-19 epidemic which gallops and overtakes them.
Lowering of the electoral majority
"The traffic light is there
", announced Olaf Scholz, after explaining in the introduction that the health situation was
"serious"
and that Germany
"was studying"
a possible
"extension"
of the vaccination obligation today reserved for the 'army.
Under this term of "traffic light" - the first coalition of this kind - rank the colors of the three formations called upon to business.
The essential had already been the subject of a consensus in mid-October, namely the accelerated exit from coal - in 2030 instead of 2038 - to which is added a return to budgetary rigor from 2023 or a reduction. at 16 years of age of electoral majority.
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"This is a government of the center,"
theorized the president of the FDP, Christian Lindner, who, at the Ministry of Finance, wants to be the main architect of the soon-to-be found orthodoxy.
Under these conditions, none of the three parties was able to explain how and to what extent the next government will finance the recognized challenge of energy transition.
“We can answer the questions in the years to come,”
Olaf Scholz evaded.
For its part, the distribution of portfolios carefully respects political balances.
The two great sovereign ministries of Defense and the Interior logically fall into the hands of the SPD.
The Greens, who obtained second place in number of votes, won Foreign Affairs, entrusted to the unsuccessful candidate for the election and co-chair of the party, Annalena Baerbock.
Supporters of a revival of European integration, the Grünen also obtained the power to appoint the next German commissioner sitting at the European Commission (now President Ursula von der Leyen of the CDU).
Industrial coloring
They inherited above all from the Ministry of the Environment, which, symbol of their fight, will also oversee the Economy, as well as the strategic post of Agriculture, to which the CDU has long given an industrial coloring.
On Tuesday, the Greens promised
"more ecological agriculture and a reduction in the use of pesticides"
.
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In Germany, an anti-Covid strategy deemed "chaotic"
On the other hand, they leave transport, another key sector of the ecological transition, in the hands of the liberal FDP party.
However, the latter does not share the green ideas of the climate emergency.
Its president, Christian Lindner, should be appointed Minister of Finance, in particular responsible for financing future investments in renewable energies, while preaching for budgetary stability and a return to minimum debt.
The FDP was notably opposed to the Franco-German post-Covid recovery plan, establishing debt pooling.
The Conservatives also get justice.
At the top of the government, Olaf Scholz will be a
“strong chancellor”
, declared Christian Lindner, a prediction or an oath of allegiance whose public expression seemed to astonish the Greens.
The latter had repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction during the negotiations.
Angela Merkel's successor will be elected to the Bundestag between December 6 and 8, after just three months of talks, the speed of which has defied expectations.
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