“We are not discussing tax increases”

Berlin The traffic light coalition has found a compromise on the heating law for the time being, but for opposition leader Friedrich Merz the topic of new elections is far from off the table. “If the traffic light continues to work like this, I have doubts as to whether it will last until the next elections,” said the parliamentary group leader of the CDU and CSU in the Bundestag in an interview. “SPD, FDP and Greens can’t agree on even the smallest issues. And now the federal budget for 2024 is imminent.”

The Building Energy Act is “still a long way from over the hurdle”. The chancellor “regularly lets things drift for weeks” while the country “takes damage under this administration.”