| Germany’s center-left coalition government is wrapping things up before the summer break.
“It was a bit of a bumpy ride,” Olaf Scholz told parliamentarians from his center-left Social Democrats as they were heading for their traditional Spargelfahrt (asparagus-dinner cruise) aboard a paddle steamer on Berlin’s Wannsee last Tuesday. With a big smile, the chancellor promised a smooth ride from now on.
His remarks were seen as quite an understatement: Following weeks of acrimonious bickering between the two smaller coalition partners, there was finally an agreement on the basics of the law that will spell the phase-out of traditional oil and natural gas heating systems in private households.
The draft has been described as giving the Leitplanken (the guardrails, the basics) for a parliamentary debate on deadlines and financial support for homeowners. The government hopes the bill will be passed by the Bundestag before the summer recess begins in July.
The Green Party wanted to speed up climate protection measures in the face of mounting outrage fueled by tabloid media outlets and orchestrated by populists. Some 13,000 people took to the streets in Bavaria in early June to the familiar tune of anti-government, anti-establishment rhetoric, well-known from protests against COVID restrictions.
Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens), once popular for his frank emotional statements, made a somewhat subdued appearance on public TV on Sunday, where he told talk show host Anne Will that he was not happy with how the government had communicated over the past weeks.
His coalition partner and frequent adversary, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, meanwhile, has moved on.
He has announced that an agreement on the 2024 budget was imminent, that it would mark a real turning point and an end to the spiral of debt, paving the way for important investments.
All ministries have been clamoring for more money and it will be interesting to see who loses out. |
