According to Reuters, on Friday, Robert Habeck, one of the leaders of the Green Party, warned that the negotiations might fail. In an interview with the Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting Corporation (RBB), he said that the three parties agreed that the next government should be a climate protection government, and it must be one committed to reaching the Paris Climate Agreement. Climate Government”,
He said: “1.5 degrees Celsius is our bottom line and it has been written in the interim agreement. If we can’t get together, the cabinet formation negotiations will fail.”
Habaek also said that there is no guarantee that the cabinet-forming negotiations can be completed in accordance with the expected timetable. The 22 working groups responsible for policy negotiations in various fields have submitted negotiation reports, but some key issues are still open.
According to reports, this is not the first time that the “traffic light” combination has spread disagreements. Earlier this month, sources familiar with the cabinet formation negotiations revealed that the Green Party and the Liberal Democratic Party had a dispute over the choice of finance minister. The chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, Christian Lindner, has publicly stated that he is willing to hold this important position, and the Green Party believes that this position is none other than Habeck.
Officials involved in the negotiations said that in order to resolve this contradiction, they envisaged three scenarios. One is that Lindner is the finance minister and Habaek leads the climate protection department; the second is that Habaek is the finance minister and Lindner is in charge of the Ministry of Economy or the Ministry of the Interior; Served by the Social Democrats. It is expected that the final decision will be made within a few weeks.
According to a report by German TV, the focal points of the three-party disputes are transportation, environmental protection and diplomacy. On environmental issues, the Green Party expressed dissatisfaction with the results of the negotiations. The Green Party’s Minister of Transport in Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Hermann, even said a few days ago that he would re-election if it fails. Of course, this statement was criticized by the Red and Yellow parties, and the general manager of the Green Party, Michael Kellner, also denied the intention of re-election.
The German “Handelsblatt” (Handelsblatt) analyzed in an article that despite the deadlock in the negotiations, this “traffic light” combination is currently the only option, and there is no real viable alternative.
The article pointed out that in addition to the current “traffic light” combination, Germany has other possibilities, such as the formation of a grand coalition government by the Social Democratic Party and the Coalition Party. However, the CDU, where Angela Merkel belongs, is in collapse and is busy regrouping internally. It is still unknown who will be the chairman, and other issues are not discussed.
However, the Social Democratic Party has always stated that it will complete the cabinet formation negotiation before and after Santa Claus Day (December 6). According to external analysis, they want Olaf Scholz to be sworn in before the EU summit so that by December 16, he can replace Merkel and appear on the international stage as German Chancellor.
[Note]: Since the representative colors of the Social Democratic Party, the Green Party and the Liberal Democratic Party are red, green and yellow respectively, they are called the “traffic light” combination by the outside world.
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