Greens outraged by FDP push to relieve diesel drivers

The Greens are outraged by the initiative of the designated Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) to relieve diesel vehicles. “The coalition agreement does not give that,” said the Green traffic expert Stefan Gelbhaar to the “Spiegel” when Wissing announced that he wanted to lower the vehicle tax in order to compensate for higher diesel prices. Criticism of this came from Wissing’s future cabinet colleague, Cem Özdemir, as well as from state politicians in the Green Party. The SPD also kept its distance from the advance.

Wissing had warned in the “Bild” newspaper on Saturday of additional burdens for diesel vehicles and their drivers and said: “The FDP will ensure that higher energy taxes on diesel fuels are offset by lower vehicle taxes.” the small companies that are still dependent on diesel vehicles. Specifically, Wissing named delivery services and craftsmen.

“The coalition agreement provides for an alignment of diesel costs with gasoline costs,” said Gelbhaar. The FDP had agreed to this, and Wissing would also have to adhere to it, emphasized the transport policy spokesman for the Green parliamentary group. Parliament would also have to decide on a new version of the vehicle tax. In the coalition agreement, only a test order is formulated.

The traffic light parties agreed on a vaguely worded statement in the coalition agreement: “With the implementation of the EU Energy Tax Directive, which provides for the tax harmonization of diesel fuel and petrol, we will review the tax treatment of diesel vehicles in the vehicle tax.”

Özdemir, most recently chairman of the Bundestag’s transport committee, said on Deutschlandfunk on Sunday that it was not a question of extending the fossil fuel combustion engine, but of ending it. “It’s in the coalition agreement,” said the Minister-designate for Agriculture. He himself negotiated the economy chapter for the Greens. “15 million electric vehicles by 2030, fully electric, no hybrid. That means that the end of the fossil fuel combustion will be sealed by 2030, ”said Özdemir. “That is the coalition mandate. Period. End.”

Criticism of Wissing also came from the spokesman for rail policy in the Green parliamentary group, Matthias Gastel. He wrote on Twitter: “A future traffic light transport minister should first and foremost be an advocate for trains, buses and bicycles – and rely on the future of alternative, innovative drives instead of looking backwards and forgetting about the future on fossil fuels.”

Baden-Württemberg’s State Transport Minister Winfried Hermann also referred to the coalition agreement. It was “in connection with the adjustment of the diesel and gasoline tax only a test order, but not an order to lower the vehicle tax,” said Hermann the newspaper “Welt”. “The designated transport minister should first and foremost be concerned about how CO2 emissions can be reduced in the transport sector and how diesel vehicles can be replaced by zero-emission vehicles,” he advised Wissing.

The Green parliamentary group leader in Lower Saxony’s state parliament, Julia Willie Hamburg, told the newspaper: “The fact that the designated transport minister is already calling himself an advocate for cars and wants to lower diesel prices and vehicle taxes for combustion engines is a blow to the traffic light government has not even started work. ”She added:“ Acting like this is polarizing and not unifying. ”

The SPD also kept its distance. “The coalition agreement does not provide for taxes on diesel fuel to be increased,” said parliamentary group vice-president Achim Post of “Welt”. The coalition agreement only stipulates that the vehicle tax will be reviewed in the event that the EU Energy Tax Directive should be adjusted. (AFP)