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Lindner, Scholz and Habeck at the press conference after the cabinet meeting
Photo: FABRIZIO BENSCH / REUTERS
The war in Ukraine, inflation, the energy crisis: the federal government is facing enormous challenges - and is divided on many points.
At the cabinet meeting in Meseberg, Brandenburg, there should now at least be an approximation.
Although this goal was not always achieved, the leaders of the coalition have now drawn a positive balance.
"It was a very good cabinet retreat," said Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and spoke of constructive consultations.
The meeting led to a rapprochement on various issues.
The traffic light now wants to complete a wide variety of projects “in a very short time”, said Scholz.
»What has taken place here is a very palpable compromise and also the common conviction that this will succeed.«
Scholz also said that in its first year the government had managed to lead the country through the crisis triggered by the Russian war of aggression.
This has "created an impetus for our country" that should now be taken with it in order to master the major challenge of the ecological transformation of the economy.
Scholz confidently said that "we will shoulder this major task".
But every woman and every man would be needed as workers, including workers from abroad.
"We need speed," he emphasized, with a view to the restructuring of the economy and energy production.
For example, four to five new wind turbines would have to be built every day by 2030 and electromobility would have to be promoted.
"We are facing major challenges in terms of transformation," said Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens).
He pointed out that 20 years ago there was hardly any green electricity in Germany.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) said with regard to the disputes in the coalition that there had been many opportunities for informal talks in Meseberg.
“That will also help us in day-to-day political business in Berlin.”
Before the cabinet meeting, the coalition's internal dispute over the EU's planned ban on internal combustion engines had dampened the mood.
There is a dispute, especially between the FDP and the Greens, because FDP leader Lindner and Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) do not want to agree to the end of combustion engines in cars planned for 2035 – although the federal government had already done so.
The months of negotiated EU compromise on the new CO₂ limits for cars stipulates that from 2035 newly registered cars and light commercial vehicles may no longer emit greenhouse gases - which would be the end for classic petrol and diesel engines.
According to the will of the FDP, the internal combustion engine should still live on, thanks to potentially climate-neutral eco-fuels, so-called e-fuels, the production of which is very energy-intensive.
When asked about a SPIEGEL report that Wissing had already approved the EU agreement on combustion cars before he switched to a blockade course, Scholz answered directly - although Lindner had been addressed first.
Scholz said the federal government assumes that the EU Commission will make a proposal on how e-fuels can be used after 2035.
This was "made politically effective" a year ago at the cabinet meeting in Meseberg with the EU Commission, now it is clear that this will really happen - "so it's nothing new".
Lindner said that freedom of technology is a great asset for the FDP.
No final political decision will be made about the drives in private cars.
Against this background, they got involved in the European decision-making process.
Legal certainty is needed that vehicles with petrol or diesel engines can also be registered after 2035, provided they are fueled with eco-fuel.
asc/ulz/AFP/dpa
