(Bloomberg) -- The three parties in talks to form Germany’s next government are haggling over concrete measures for climate action with the Greens demanding that efforts to stem global warming run throughout Europe’s largest economy.
“A lot still needs to be done,” Oliver Krischer, Green deputy parliamentary leader, said on ZDF television on Monday ahead of coalition talks. “Climate protection is needed for all sectors from transport, heating to agriculture,” he said, adding that “concrete measures” are also needed for the plan to accelerate Germany’s coal exit to 2030 and expand renewable energy.
Olaf Scholz will take another step toward replacing Angela Merkel as chancellor, when a 21-strong group of senior officials from his Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats meets in Berlin.
They will seek to resolve any remaining differences on issues ranging from tackling climate change to finance and foreign policy after 22 working groups of negotiators from the three parties handed in their position papers last week.
Scholz, the current finance minister and vice chancellor, is aiming to seal a coalition accord and be sworn in with his new cabinet during the week beginning Dec. 6. That would be a relatively swift resolution to coalition talks involving three parties with starkly contrasting agendas in some policy areas.
Although a collapse of the negotiations -- as happened after the 2017 election when the FDP walked out of talks with the conservatives and the Greens -- appears highly unlikely at this stage, there have been some signs of conflict.
Annalena Baerbock, a co-leader of the Greens, made it clear last week that the party won’t sign up to a coalition deal unless there’s a clear commitment to enforcing the Paris climate accord.
Budget policy could be another sticking point. While the Greens want to invest 50 billion euros ($57 billion) a year in climate protection and other measures, the FDP is more inclined toward fiscal discipline.
The party sees itself as a guardian of Germany’s constitutional borrowing rules, which limit the annual deficit to 0.35% of gross domestic product unless in times of national emergency.
Merkel’s government set aside the rules to help deal with the fallout from the pandemic and the FDP wants them restored as soon as possible.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
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