Federal Minister of Transport Volker Wissing is increasingly asserting himself in the debate about the EU's plan to phase out combustion engines from 2035 without exception for climate-friendly fuels.
The FPD is preparing the next defeat for the Greens after the fuss about Habeck's oil heating ban.
A commentary by Georg Anastasiadis.
When Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing stopped the EU's plan to phase out combustion engines from 2035 three weeks ago, the outrage knew no bounds.
The FDP is isolating Germany in Europe, it sounded shrill from Brussels.
Even the German Greens were angry that Wissing was slipping “into lawlessness”.
Apparently, their party headquarters had successfully suppressed the fact that the traffic light had expressly stated in its coalition agreement that Germany was opposed to a ban on internal combustion engines with CO2-free synthetic fuels, so-called e-fuels.
Lo and behold: the FDP is not isolated in Germany, nor is Germany in Brussels.
In the meantime, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria have sided with Berlin, which means that the necessary blocking minority against the blanket ban on combustion engines without an exception for e-fuels has been achieved.
And Chancellor Olaf Scholz has clearly joined the FDP camp with his demand that the EU Commission in Brussels should address German concerns.
The new VW boss Oliver Blume himself has meanwhile cleared up the tale busily spread by the Greens on talk shows that even the German car manufacturers support the Brussels ban on e-fuels.
In fact, Blume believes that there could be fields of application for niche vehicles powered by e-fuels in the future.
"There is no conflict between e-mobility and e-fuels," says Blume.
BMW boss Zipse also drummed hard for e-fuels - for existing and new cars.
BMW engines are prepared for this.
The case is exemplary: those who only threaten enough to swing the climate club can usually hope that others will take cover intimidated, even if they have pragmatic and no less climate-friendly solutions at their disposal.
Transport Minister Wissing and his party leader Christian Lindner nevertheless risked the conflict.
They are also rewarded for this by public opinion: According to a new survey, 67 percent of Germans reject the blanket phasing out of combustion engines without exception for e-fuels.
Swarm intelligence beats ideological stubbornness.