2023-05-24 07:49:24
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich does not endorse the accusation made by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) that the FDP “broke its word” because of the delays in the heating law. “I would not see it as a breach of word, but in the end it depends on whether we pass the law in the German Bundestag,” he said on Tuesday evening in the “heute journal”.
Habeck had referred to the agreement that representatives of the SPD, Greens and FDP had reached in the coalition committee at the end of March. “It clearly states: we want this process to be completed before the parliamentary summer recess. That will no longer be possible with the postponement,” he said. “And I note that the FDP is not keeping its word at this point.” Mützenich, on the other hand, was confident: the coalition would ultimately bring together a good law.
“It does not depend on the effective date”
On Wednesday, meanwhile, the Bundestag is dealing with the controversial heating law in a current hour. The debate is “urgently necessary,” said the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, which rejects the project and has therefore requested the current hour. Due to fundamental concerns of the FDP, the traffic light coalition had previously decided not to put the draft of the Building Energy Act on the agenda of the Bundestag this week. This reduces the likelihood that it will be adopted before the summer break, as originally planned.
According to the FDP, the law can take effect next year despite the delay in the Bundestag. “In order for the law to come into force in 2024, it is enough if we pass it in October,” MP Reinhard Houben told the editorial network Germany. “The climate change will not fail if the law is not passed before the summer break.” FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr made a similar statement. “In the end, it doesn’t depend on the day it comes into force,” Dürr told TV station Welt. It is crucial that it becomes a good law – regardless of whether it is January 1st or February 28th, 2024.
Meanwhile, the parliamentary director of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, considers it feasible for the Bundestag to pass it before the summer break. With a “constructive attitude” on the part of the traffic light partners, this can be achieved by the beginning of the parliamentary summer break, Mast said on Deutschlandfunk on Wednesday. Until then, there are still a good six weeks left for proper parliamentary deliberation. One shouldn’t leave people in the dark for too long, warned Mast. She pointed out that in the current week specialist politicians and also the deputy parliamentary group leaders are still exchanging views on the subject.
The FDP politician Mari-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said on Tuesday evening in the ARD “Tagesthemen” that in her view the law could not be passed before the summer break. It is clear that at the traffic light, everyone wants a different kind of climate protection. You have to “take the people in Germany with you, because otherwise there is no acceptance”. It is not good “to get a law on the road no matter what and to fix it on a date,” said the FDP politician.
It is planned that from the coming year every newly installed heating system will be operated with at least 65 percent green energy. However, existing oil and gas heating systems can continue to run, and broken systems can be repaired. The switch is to be socially cushioned by funding – the details are, however, controversial. The law is considered an important building block for the goal of making Germany climate-neutral by 2045.
Meanwhile, according to a media report, Construction Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) and Economics Minister Habeck want to oblige the federal states and municipalities to submit binding plans for climate-neutral heating networks. As the “Bild” newspaper reports, citing a corresponding draft law by the Ministry of Construction, Geywitz and Habeck are asking the municipalities, among other things, to determine numerous data on energy consumption and the condition of each individual building. The data should then be used to create heating plans in order to ensure a climate-neutral heat supply in Germany by 2045 at the latest. The cabinet should pass the law before the summer break. Large cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants should draw up corresponding “heating plans” by the end of 2026 at the latest. Smaller cities and districts (up to 100,000 inhabitants) have until the end of 2028.
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