Berlin The SPD, Greens and FDP quickly agreed on the goal. The self-proclaimed progressive coalition will make Germany fit for the digital age. “Speed in infrastructure expansion”, that’s what Volker Wissing (FDP) should see to as digital minister. But when it comes to the question of how exactly the goal is to be achieved, the consensus in the traffic light coalition ends.
When Wissing’s State Secretary Stefan Schnorr recently outlined the plans at an event organized by the Federal Association of Broadband Communications, he caused astonishment among the coalition partner SPD. “We have a different interpretation in several places than the Digital Ministry represents in discussions with associations and countries,” said digital politician Falko Mohrs. “There will have to be talks in the coalition here.” It’s about how much the state intervenes and what role investments by private companies play.
Broadband expansion is just one of several projects that are beginning to crunch at traffic lights. After the honeymoon, the SPD, Greens and FDP arrive in everyday government life. “Honeymoon is over,” said a Green politician. The coalition partners notice that they interpret the promised progress differently. It goes so far that Germany cannot appear on the international stage with a unified voice.
Coalition partners complain about going it alone and gross foul play
The three parties want to score points in the implementation of the coalition agreement. In addition, they have to sharpen their own profile before the upcoming state elections in Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia. In particular, there is increasing friction between the FDP and the Greens. A Greens politician speaks of “gross foul play” by the FDP. The Liberals, on the other hand, are annoyed that Economics Minister Robert Habeck went it alone.
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Especially when it comes to climate protection, there is rumbling. In January, Transport Minister Wissing and Climate Minister Habeck thought they could quietly clarify an ambiguity: In a confidential meeting, they agreed that the coalition would aim for “at least 15 million fully electric cars by 2030”, as stated on page 27 of the coalition agreement. And not “at least 15 million electric cars”, as it says on page 51 – which can also include plug-in hybrid cars as well as fuel cell or hydrogen vehicles.
Accordingly, Habeck published his climate report. But a few hours later, Wissing experienced a “medium hurricane in the FDP,” as it was called, and put his sentence into perspective. Since then it has been unclear again what applies now.
The topic is so sensitive that even Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had to intervene. Specifically, the question was what position Germany is taking in the negotiations on the EU Commission’s climate package. Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) interpreted the coalition agreement differently than FDP Minister Wissing and called for car manufacturers to bring lower-emission cars onto the market faster than planned by the EU Commission. The FDP, on the other hand, insisted on the coalition agreement. After that, the coalition “supports” the EU program: From 2035, cars with internal combustion engines will no longer be registered in Europe. But that also means: definitely before this year.
Corona aid is a major point of contention
Things really got down to business between the two small coalition partners with the fourth Corona Tax Assistance Act. Actually, only corona aid measures should be extended and minimally expanded. But Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) frankly cheated – at least that’s how his coalition partners present it – a “degressive depreciation for movable assets” into law. Costs: around ten billion euros over the next few years.
According to the Greens, the topic was not addressed even in the central coordination round between Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt (SPD), Economic State Secretary Anja Hajduk (Greens) and Finance State Secretary Steffen Saebisch (FDP).
When it comes to the household, the next argument is already brewing.
(Photo: imago images/photothek)
They also made their dissatisfaction public air. Green finance politician Katharina Beck said: “There is definitely still a need for discussion as to whether this is really the right step in weighing up priorities.” And SPD finance politician Michael Schrodi followed suit: There is actually no such thing as “super write-offs” demanded by Lindner more money there. In the end, the SPD and the Greens grudgingly supported the law.
According to Lindner, Habeck was similarly surprised by the commuter allowance. At the beginning of February, the Economics Minister had just returned from a virtual round of introductions to his country colleagues. During the meeting, Lindner explained that he could imagine increasing the commuter allowance to relieve the gas prices. Habeck has not officially cleared the proposal to this day. But from one environment it can be clearly heard: Habeck thinks nothing of it at all. Lindner must have known that too. The commuter flat rate has always been unpopular with the Greens.
The taxonomy lacks a clear line
There had also been no unified line between the Greens and the FDP on another issue. On New Year’s Day, the EU Commission caused a tremor when it declared that it wanted to classify energy from nuclear power and gas as sustainable in its so-called “taxonomy”.
Habeck and Green Environment Minister Steffi Lemke considered both to be unacceptable. The FDP went along with nuclear power. But not with gas – on the contrary: Lindner spoke out in favor of establishing simpler criteria for the operators of gas-fired power plants.
To the end, the cabinet had to wrestle with how the government’s position would turn out. What Berlin then sent to Brussels on a late Friday evening at the end of January clearly had the handwriting of the FDP around Finance Minister Lindner.
On Saturday, Habeck and Lemke followed up with communication and explained that the conditions planned by the EU Commission for the earliest possible use of climate-neutral gas in gas-fired power plants “still have to be adjusted”. How the federal government wants to position itself in the further process is still not clear.
No majority on compulsory vaccination
The honeymoon feelings of the traffic light parties quickly evaporated in the depths of pandemic politics. This is particularly evident when it comes to compulsory vaccination. It is still not clear what form compulsory vaccination will take – or if it will come at all. The traffic light groups compete for a majority with three motions. One group is in favor of compulsory vaccination from the age of 18, another for such a rule from the age of 50 – and another is strictly against it.
Superficially, the SPD, Greens and FDP refer to a social discourse that would reflect the different views. In the background, however, MPs are angry about the messed-up situation. It is said that the fact that a chancellor is unable to secure a majority in his own coalition on such a crucial issue is a sign of failure.
There are many in the ranks of the SPD and Greens who blame the FDP for this. For party-political considerations, they are constantly accepting that decisions are being pushed further and further back, says one member of parliament. It currently looks as if the Bundestag will only decide in April.
The discrepancies are also evident in the question of which basic protection measures should continue to be possible after March 20th. For this day, the federal and state governments decided on Wednesday to end “more profound” corona measures, but left details open. The prime ministers had already agreed on a set of rules, but Scholz could not support this because the ideas in his governing coalition differed widely. FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr recently advocated only going into spring with the mask requirement. SPD and Greens, on the other hand, see the measures as a kind of “sani box in the trunk”.
“Team spirit taken into government”
The coalition is still trying to spread a good mood despite the friction. FDP parliamentary group leader Dürr says: “We took the team spirit from the coalition negotiations into the government. In contrast to the previous Union-led grand coalition, the traffic light is based on fair and trusting cooperation.”
Of course, there are sometimes stutters in the beginning of the voting process, says Dürr. “But that is completely normal when three different coalition partners have to set themselves up in the ministries after a change of government. After all, there has never been a three-party coalition in Germany before.”
When it comes to the household, the next argument is already brewing. In the ongoing budget negotiations, the wishes of the departments far exceed what is feasible. Finance Minister Lindner definitely wants to cap the debt at around 100 billion euros this year, as the grand coalition had planned.
The extension of KfW funding or the degressive depreciation have already cost around 15 billion. Some departments are already annoyed because Lindner refuses many of their wishes, but uses them on a large scale for their own budget plans. The Greens are quietly calling for the debt to be higher this year – which would be politically sensitive for Linder.
More: Up to 400 billion euros more: The traffic light’s wish list goes beyond any scope