Traffic light dispute about heating – Göring-Eckardt misses “Climate Chancellor”
“When the government initiates such a major project, you have to support it together,” says Göring-Eckardt
Source: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/archive image
She finds it difficult to recognize a “climate chancellor”: Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckart complains of a lack of support from the Chancellor. The Greens politician criticizes that Olaf Scholz should “not make it easy for himself”.
Im Coalition dispute over the heating law has the Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) lack of support from Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) complains. “I find it difficult to recognize a climate chancellor,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “When you initiate such a major project as a government, you have to support it together. Unfortunately, we are a long way from that in the traffic light.”
Scholz shouldn’t “make it easy for himself,” she said. “It’s not a specialty of Robert Habeck or the Alliance Greens. That may currently harm us as a party or the Vice Chancellor, but otherwise it will be at the expense of everyone, even in the near future.
The Greens politician warned against postponing the heating law, but called for corrections to be made to the bill. So there must be a subsidy for the installation of climate-friendly heating that is graded according to income.
“No one should be forced to sell their house. And there shouldn’t be any major burdens for tenants either,” said Göring-Eckardt. “That’s why we want to subsidize the new heating system by up to 80 percent – and not only up to a maximum of 50 percent, as envisaged in the current draft.”
The Green politician rejected further exceptions to the exchange obligation. “I think it’s better to work with more funding for those who need it than with more exceptions,” said Goering-Eckardt.
The chairwoman of the so-called economic experts, Monika Schnitzer, also spoke out in favor of improvements. It is important “that people with lower incomes are not overwhelmed. At the same time, the support measures should be targeted, because people with higher incomes do not need support,” she told the Funke newspapers.
Schnitzer also quickly demanded clarity about the exact regulations. “It doesn’t depend on the exact month as the start date, but on the fact that this will soon be binding,” she said. “Then everyone can adjust to it and build up the necessary capacities in good time: the trades and the suppliers of heating systems.”
The government plans stipulate that from 2024 oil and gas heating may only be installed in exceptional cases. New heating systems should then “if possible” be operated with at least 65 percent renewable energy. Classic gas and oil heating systems can only achieve this if they are operated in combination with a heat pump. However, there are numerous exceptions.
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