Berlin Greens Vice Ricarda Lang sees her party facing difficult talks with the SPD and FDP for a possible traffic light coalition. “There is a good basis, but tough negotiations are still ahead of us,” she told the Handelsblatt. “Of course we will still have to clarify a lot with the SPD and FDP when it comes to financing, climate protection or social policy.”
Lang also underlined the importance that the Treasury Department had for her party. “The Ministry of Finance decides to a large extent on the future investments that are now necessary to implement the traffic light plans,” she said. Billions would have to be mobilized for “socially just climate protection”, digitization and sustainable infrastructure. “That is why the Ministry of Finance is very important to us.”
The FDP had also emphasized its ambitions for the ministry in the past few days. “The difference lies in the question of what financial policy is used for,” said Lang. It’s about whether you make financial policy for society as a whole – “or above all for those who already have the most anyway,” said Lang. “That was also the fundamental question in the explorations, the details of which we now have to negotiate.”
You can read the whole interview here:
Ms. Lang, which hurdles do you see most likely for the upcoming coalition negotiations?
There is a good foundation, but tough negotiations still lie ahead. Of course, we will still have to clarify a lot with the SPD and FDP when it comes to financing, climate protection or social policy. But the explorations have shown that all parties are ready to reach out to each other and also to look for new, sometimes unexpected solutions. I hope for the same with the difficult topics.
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Can you give an example? The exploratory paper largely excludes the difficult topics you mentioned.
I helped negotiate the subject of health policy. Here, too, we will have to discuss many details in the coalition negotiations. It will be about how we can better finance clinics in the future. We need new forms of structural financing – for example, so that emergency supplies are also guaranteed in rural regions. We also need a reform of the flat rates per case, which we have also recorded in the exploratory paper.
The coffers criticize that these proposals are not enough to cope with the huge billion deficit – and warn against higher contributions.
We wanted to address this problem with citizens’ insurance. This could not be done with the FDP. The coalition negotiations must show which solutions are possible. We also have to deal with long-term care insurance, for example to cover our own contributions. Care must be affordable, and there needs to be better working conditions for caregivers, such as working hours that actually fit in with life. For me that is the benchmark.
Do you need a green finance minister to finance the projects?
We still have to clarify the details of the financing. But it is correct: the Ministry of Finance decides to a large extent on the future investments that are now necessary to implement the traffic light plans. We finally need socially just climate protection. To do this, we have to mobilize billions – also for digitization and a sustainable infrastructure.
And it is also about the question of whether there is money for social cohesion. With basic child benefits, we are making the promise to millions of people to fight child poverty. That is why the Ministry of Finance is very important to us. But it is also clear that personnel issues are at the end of the coalition negotiations.
What is the difference to an FDP-led finance ministry?
The difference lies in the question of what financial policy is for. Is it about mobilizing the necessary funds for the challenges of our time – or defining the financial policy framework very closely? And of course it’s also about whether you make financial policy for society as a whole, or above all for those who already have the most anyway. That was also the fundamental question in the explorations, the details of which we now have to negotiate.
When will the decision be made as to who will be finance minister?
At the end of the coalition negotiations.
The FDP has at least announced that a climate ministry could be part of the traffic light.
It is true that climate policy is a central task of the coming government. But it must also be clear that climate protection will be the task of all ministries and that we have to get away from silo thinking. We must now take the time in the coalition negotiations to define exactly how this can be done.
Is that also a bait for the FDP to secure the Ministry of Finance for itself?
If it were, it’s not very promising.
The main topic of the Greens in the election campaign was climate protection. This is the last government that can take control again, it said. Is what is in the exploratory paper actually enough for that?
The exploratory paper is a good foundation for ambitious climate protection. We have laid the foundations to bring Germany onto the 1.5-degree path from the Paris climate agreement: with the coal phase-out by 2030, with a massive expansion of renewable energies and the burn-out phase before 2035. The next few weeks will be about the details – also in areas that have so far taken up less space, such as agriculture and transport.
Climate protection activists have criticized the formulation as insufficient to achieve the coal phase-out “ideally” by 2030.
The passage to the coal exit is a great success for us. The decisive factor is not the adjective, but that it gives us the opportunity to adapt the coal phase-out law and not only after 2026 will it be checked whether the coal phase-out can be accelerated. That means we can now clarify in detail how we can implement the coal phase-out by 2030 – for example by accelerating planning and expanding renewable energies.
More: What the SPD, Greens and FDP have agreed on – traffic light parties announce coalition talks