Greens warn FDP against blockade of heating law
In view of the threatened FDP blockade of the current draft of the heating law, the Greens have sharpened their tone. Today a decision is to be made as to whether the law will go to Parliament for the first reading this week.
The Greens have warned the FDP not to put the building energy law on the agenda of the Bundestag this week. With a blockade, the FDP would show “that it is not primarily concerned with questions of content, but with profiling for its own sake,” said Parliamentary Director Irene Mihalic of the editorial network Germany.
The deputy leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Julia Verlinden, called on the FDP to stick to the agreed schedule for the heating law. In the rbb24-Inforadio she warned that the law had to be passed before the summer break so that citizens would have planning security.
“Very unusual request”
“I can’t remember whether in the last few decades there has ever been a cabinet passing a law, forwarding it to the Bundestag and now attaching conditions to the deliberations in the Bundestag or not wanting this at all,” said Verlinden. This is an unusual request.
The decision on whether the bill will go to Parliament for the first reading this week is expected to be made today. If this does not happen, the probability that it will be adopted before the summer break decreases.
FDP wants new draft law
The FDP parliamentary group is pushing for a completely new heating law and does not want to negotiate the existing draft in the Bundestag as planned. “The question is: Is it already in the status that the Bundestag can discuss it in detail? And I don’t see that at the moment,” said Christian Dürr, leader of the FDP parliamentary group ARD morning magazine. Apparently the law is not quite finished yet.
It doesn’t depend on the day, but “whether Germany gets a good building energy law,” Dürr said. It’s now about thoroughness, not about speed. “It’s taking its toll now that Robert Habeck insisted that the law be sent to the Bundestag.”
Furthermore, the group leader insisted on more openness to technology, especially in the question of financing. Citizens should be able to buy heaters that suit their house type – such as gas heaters, which could also be operated with climate-neutral hydrogen in the future.
Scholz also urges speed
Chancellor Olaf Scholz had recently called for speed. Scholz expects “that the Bundestag will now discuss the draft law with the necessary thoroughness, but also quickly,” said his spokesman on Monday.
SPD leader Saskia Esken said on RTL “Direkt” on Monday evening that the population can rely on “that we design this law in such a way that it is practicable”. People should “be able to afford what we ask of them.”
She emphasized that tenants must be protected against high costs when replacing the heating system. “Excessive rent increases must actually be prevented. That means we will limit the apportionability of these investments.”
Parity association calls for social balance
Due to the threat of high costs, the Paritätische Gesamtverband, for example, is pushing for effective social compensation. “We demand from all traffic light parties that they end the unsettling dispute in the coalition and quickly pass a socially cushioned heating law,” said the association’s general manager, Ulrich Schneider, of the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”.
The switch to climate-neutral heating is important for climate protection and reduces heating costs in the long term, said Schneider. In order for everyone to be able to participate in this “ecological progress”, targeted support based on income and wealth is necessary. “Anyone who has little money must be able to expect that the additional costs will be covered,” said the chief executive of the social association. In addition, as warned by Esken, tenants should be better protected against the conversion costs being passed on to them.
In order to achieve the climate goals, according to the previous plans of Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens), from next year only new heating systems will be installed that run on at least 65 percent renewable energies. State subsidies are planned for the replacement of the heating system. However, existing heaters can continue to run and may be repaired.
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