CDU state association pushes ahead with speed limit: “There must be no taboo topics”
Created: 06/29/2022, 16:02
By: Andreas Schmid
Germany is the last European country without a general speed limit on motorways.
Now even the CDU is discussing the end of the unique selling proposition.
© MiS / Imago
The CDU categorically rejects a speed limit.
Actually.
Due to the energy crisis, the Lower Saxony CDU is now observing "that something is moving".
Berlin/Hanover - "We reject a general speed limit on motorways".
This is what it says in the CDU/CSU election program for the federal election.
"A speed of 130 is illogical," emphasized Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet many times.
For a long time, the Union took a rigorous course on the point demanded above all by the Greens and SPD.
The current energy crisis has changed the perspective somewhat.
Speed limit: Lower Saxony's CDU is pushing ahead - "no taboo topics"
Around three months before the state elections in Lower Saxony, the topic boils up in the CDU state association.
The Lower Saxony CDU parliamentary group leader Dirk Toepffer said at the end of last week in Hanover: "A temporary speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour on motorways can no longer be categorically ruled out." Probably because he was aware of the explosive nature of this about-face, he pointed out that it was an individual opinion within his party.
But he feels "that something is moving."
Something is actually happening in Lower Saxony, one of the largest auto federal states in Germany.
In the past few days, more and more CDU politicians have positioned themselves.
In the Neue Presse
you read
arguments in favor of Tempo 130 from the parliamentary manager Jens Nacke - "because it simply saves more fuel and thus also protects the wallet of each individual".
CDU top candidate and Economics Minister Berd Althusmann was less confident ("We shouldn't expect too much from the effects of a speed limit").
At the same time, however, there should be “no taboo topics in the current energy crisis”.
Lower Saxony's SPD Prime Minister Stephan Weil was pleased "about the new openness from the ranks of the coalition partner".
Greens' top candidate Christian Meyer wrote on Twitter: "Very good.
You also have to praise when the first in the CDU to use reason on the subject of the speed limit.”
Speed limit: split opinions in other CDU state associations
The NRW-CDU, which just signed the coalition agreement with the Greens, does not seem averse.
From Baden-Württemberg, the head of the transport working group, Thomas Dörflinger, says in the
world
: "In times of crisis, you can't rule anything out."
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Other state associations are finding it even more difficult to abandon previous principles.
In Saarland, a speed limit – “neither temporarily nor generally” – is rejected, just like in Schleswig-Holstein.
The position of the CDU state associations is basically interesting as a picture of the mood within the party.
Ultimately, however, the introduction of Tempo 130 on German autobahns is a federal matter.
Speed limit: federal CDU against 130 on the highways
Means: The traffic light government would have to decide.
The SPD and the Greens were already demanding a speed limit after the federal elections, as is the case in all other EU countries.
SPD leader Saskia Esken recently called for a "temporary speed limit" to cushion the energy crisis.
The FDP is strictly against it, the majority of Germans according to a recent survey in favor.
The federal faction of the CDU still rejects a speed limit.
The traffic policy spokesman Thomas Bareiß told the
world
: "I am convinced that in view of the high fuel prices, the vast majority of drivers are already holding back and driving sparingly.
We don't have to dictate that to them, we trust them to do it on their own responsibility."
