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Green traffic politician Gelbhaar: "Volker Wissing must get his house under control"
Photo: Christian Spicker / IMAGO
Next round in the dispute over traffic light traffic policy: After SPIEGEL published last Friday that the Ministry of Transport, headed by Volker Wissing (FDP), not only wants to plan and build railway lines but also new motorways more quickly, the traffic policy spokesman for the Greens, Stefan, blew his horns Yellowhair to attack.
"Volker Wissing has to get his house under control," Gelbhaar told SPIEGEL.
"For the area of federal trunk roads, it has been agreed that the ongoing projects will be coordinated and the existing requirement plans will be reviewed." If the construction of new trunk roads is just as important as the expansion of railway lines, "the ministry contradicts the coalition agreement with this draft law," said the Green politician.
In fact, the coalition agreement states on page 11 that »particularly important infrastructure measures (...) should be launched more quickly«.
The coalition partners understand this to mean "railways, power lines and engineering structures (e.g. critical bridges)".
Elsewhere, the coalition agreement stipulates that »considerably more should be invested in rail than in road«.
In the case of federal trunk roads, they want to put a "stronger focus on maintenance and rehabilitation".
Different interpretations
The FDP and its Minister of Transport interpret this passage differently.
For him, the road “continues to play a very important role,” Wissing told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” on Friday.
So not only the rail infrastructure, but also the road infrastructure must be quickly upgraded and expanded.
Wissing justified this with the security of supply and imminent delivery difficulties.
»Otherwise we will experience bottlenecks that will really affect the citizens.«
The Greens do not want to accept this argument.
"The ministry is not pursuing the agreed goal of achieving the climate goals, but is presenting a draft law that is directed against these goals," said Gelbhaar.
For him, “this process will now have to be discussed in order to justify compliance with the coalition agreement and a goal-oriented approach to one another”.
After a year of traffic light government, things are in bad shape between the FDP and the Greens when it comes to this »targeted cooperation«.
Volker Wissing also recently criticized this.
In the SPIEGEL interview together with Green Party leader Britta Haßelmann and SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert, he warned the Greens: »I would wish something from the Greens: that they stand by the compromises we have found with great discipline at all levels. «
It is unclear how the dispute will end.
What is certain is that it will continue to paralyze the construction of infrastructure.
It doesn't matter whether it's rails or roads.