The Greens do not feel heard enough about Robert Habeck's heating law – but at the ARD, two state secretaries did not want to appear on Sunday.
Berlin/Munich – There are many questions about Robert Habeck's heating law – the FDP even claims to have presented "100" units internally. A question-and-answer session on the ARD programme "Report from Berlin" on Sunday (21 May) raised eyebrows all the more: viewers were able to obtain information from a politician. However, not with Habeck himself, a Green or traffic light representative – but with the deputy CDU leader Andreas Jung.
The conservatives had recently drummed strongly against the law. This is probably one of the reasons why an irritated voice sounded from Bavaria: That a CDU politician should answer "questions about the planned heating law of the federal government" must be a mistake, wondered the SPD top candidate for the Bavarian election, Florian von Brunn. "If not, will an AfD member soon answer the questions about the Skilled Immigration Act?" The first, however, denied a mistake in the announcement – and passed the responsibility on to Habeck's ministry.
Habeck state secretaries not willing to provide information on the heating law? ARD broadcast provides explosive material
"Two state secretaries from the Federal Ministry of Economics have cancelled us. It was said that scheduling reasons would prevent that tonight," said "Report from Berlin" presenter Matthias Deiß at the beginning of the round streamed on Youtube with Jung.
The CDU politician obviously liked to take advantage of the opportunity. He renewed the sometimes sharp criticism of Habeck, the Building Energy Act (GEG) and the traffic light coalition. Jung said that the Union does not rule out agreeing to a law on the subject. However, he lacks "the imagination" of how to turn the present draft into a good law. Among other things, there is far too much focus on "the heat pump", and there is also a lack of social compatibility.
Jung also raised procedural allegations: A hearing on the GEG in the Bundestag, for example, was scheduled for Friday morning, 7 a.m. "Completely unusual," said the deputy. "There is a lot going on, we are watching with growing astonishment how the traffic light parties are harping on each other." Most recently, a climate researcher had also recommended a "restart" for the law.
Traffic light chaos on Sunday evening television: Wissing taunts Habeck – CDU overtakes at the speed limit
The broadcast also provided further explosive material. FDP Transport Minister Volker Wissing also made an appearance. He also shot against Habeck's plans. "With this heating law, you have seen what it means when you put your head through the wall to protect the climate," he teased. The law must be "carefully revised" and communication improved, Wissing demanded. The fact that the Greens did not take the opportunity to explain the plans on ARD could raise further questions. However, even after Deiß's explanation, it remained unclear why the SPD did not occupy Question Time.
Because the Social Democrats were prominently represented in the ARD "Report from Berlin": Secretary General Lars Klingbeil demanded in the broadcast that the heating law must be passed before the summer break and come into force as planned at the beginning of 2024. Nevertheless, he called for improvements: For example, tenants would have to be protected so that they would not have to pay the modernization levy later.
Klingbeil also mentioned the age limit of 80 years, social graduations and transitional periods. "There are still some things that we have to discuss in the next few weeks until the summer break," he admitted. Jung, on the other hand, also indirectly put pressure on Wissing. He showed – "in addition to other measures" – willingness for a temporary speed limit should the climate targets in the transport sector be jeopardized. However, he referred to his "personal opinion" and said that there was no party decision on the matter.
0
Also Read
Greek elections: First projection hits Tsipras hard - ultranationalists are likely to enter parliament
READ
Biden cites huge figure for Russia's losses in Bakhmut: "It's hard to compensate"
READ
Bakhmut becomes a "mousetrap" for the Wagner Group
READ
Greens want to govern in Bavaria - Lang attacks Söder at home: "Location risk for the economy"
READ
Pictures of huge explosion in western Ukraine - uranium ammunition hit? Experts deny
READ
Fancy a voyage of discovery?
My Area
Söder rumbles against Habeck: "Heating hammer an attack on the middle" – Aiwanger reminds of nuclear power plants and wood
In Bavaria, meanwhile, the heating law dominates the early election campaign of the CSU and Free Voters. Prime Minister Markus Söder used an appearance at the "Haderner Dorffest" in Munich's Großhadern district before the Bavarian elections in autumn to make a new broadside in the direction of the Greens. "The heating hammer of the traffic light is an attack on the center," he tweeted after the appointment. "The law has to go, just like the gas levy." The latter was shelved in September after lengthy discussions.
Söder's deputy, Free Voters leader Hubert Aiwanger, also shot at the "Greens and other future fear-mongers" on Sunday. He accused them of abusing the dramatic floods in Italy to drum up support for Habeck's building energy law. "Motto: 'Heat pumps reduce natural disasters,'" Aiwanger wrote in the short message service.
He drew a line to the shutdown of nuclear power plants in April. "That would also mean: shutdown of nuclear power plants>more fossil CO2>climate!>floods," Aiwanger wrote. Among the reactors shut down was the Isar 2 nuclear power plant in Lower Bavaria. The Free Voters also took up the cudgels for heating with wood: one ster's firewood replaces 120 litres of heating oil, he calculated. "Do you really think it's better to let this wood rot? I don't."
The Greens, meanwhile, made a different calculation at their Bavarian party congress in Erlangen. Habeck is working daily on the expansion of renewable energies, said federal party leader Ricarda Lang there. A location risk for Bavaria, on the other hand, is Söder - who has slept through the expansion of renewables and energy networks. (fn
)