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Germany’s Greens propose new climate protection ministry with veto power

Germany's Green party said Tuesday that it would seek to introduce a new climate protection ministry with the power to veto government policies if it becomes part of the next coalition following September's general elections.

Published: 3 August 2021 17:29 CEST
Germany's Greens propose new climate protection ministry with veto power
Green leader Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld

The proposed new ministry would be able to veto proposals of any nature from other ministries which were “incompatible” with the aims of the Paris climate accord of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, said Annalena Baerbock, the party’s candidate running for Angela Merkel’s post.

“This is about finally taking on the huge, century-defining task of becoming climate neutral,” said Baerbock as she presented the Greens’ climate protection programme at an event in a nature reserve in Biesenthal, just outside Berlin.

“The climate crisis is not an abstract idea, it is happening right here among us,” she added, pointing to recent deadly floods which claimed nearly 200 lives in western Germany.

READ ALSO: More trains and energy grants: What a Green win could mean for Germany

If they were voted into government, the ecologists said they would set up a climate task force to speed up policy-making in the first 100 days of the new coalition, to be overseen by the new climate ministry.

The ministry would also be able to shoot down suggestions from other ministries if they were “incompatible with Paris”, said Baerbock.

“The pressure to act is high,” said the environmental party’s co-leader Robert Habeck, adding that climate protection affected all other political issues.

The party also announced its intention to set up a “climate budget” of around 15 billion euros, introduce higher carbon prices and bring forward Germany’s planned coal exit by eight years to 2030.

German Greens’ co-leaders Robert Habeck and Annalene Baerbock. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld

The Greens are currently polling second behind Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance as Baerbock and CDU leader Armin Laschet vie to succeed the departing veteran chancellor in September.

Having briefly led the polls in the spring, the Greens have long since slipped behind the conservatives after a series of blunders derailed Baerbock’s campaign.

READ ALSO: German Greens’ candidate defends herself against plagiarism claim

A recent survey by pollsters Forsa put them five points behind the CDU/CSU on 21 percent, while Yougov have them 12 points behind on 16 percent.

The plans announced on Tuesday were slammed as a “bureaucratic muddle of bans” by the leader of the liberal FDP party Christian Lindner.

Yet they met with a less critical response from Laschet and social-democrat candidate and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who were both visiting flood-hit area on Tuesday.

“We must do everything we can to stop man-made climate change,” said Scholz.

Germany’s current right-left coalition passed a new climate change law in 2019, which included a new target to become climate neutral by the middle of the century.

Yet they were forced to improve on that target in May after Germany’s highest court ruled they were not ambitious enough to protect the rights of younger generations.

SEE ALSO: German prosecutors consider manslaughter probe into deadly floods

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IMMIGRATION

Scholz pledges to keep ‘strict controls’ on Germany’s borders

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has promised to fight 'irregular migration' by keeping stringent controls in place at several of Germany's borders.

Published: 26 July 2024 14:13 CEST
Scholz pledges to keep 'strict controls' on Germany's borders

“In general, it is our intention to continue to strictly control the German borders,” the SPD politician told the Saarbrücker Zeitung this week. He added that the numbers need to come down.

The Chancellor said labour migration was necessary and desirable. “But there are too many who come to us irregularly and claim to be seeking protection from persecution, but cannot give any reasons for asylum and are then rejected,” Scholz added.

Existing border controls, such as at checks at the border with France during the Olympic Games, will continue to apply until September 30th.

“It is our intention to continue to operate strict controls on the German borders,” Scholz said. 

At the land borders with Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland, there have been stationary check points for some time. They are planned to remain until December 15th for Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland, and until November 11th for Austria.

Border controls were tightened leading up to the EURO 2024 tournament, which took place in Germany from June 14th to July 14th.

At the time, Interior Ministry Nancy Faeser (SPD) said checks would be carried out at all of Germany’s nine borders, with a focus on combatting security threats such as Islamist extremism. 

According to the German Federal Police, more than 1.6 million people were checked when crossing the border during the tournament, and a total of 9,172 unauthorised entries were detected. Of these unauthorised entries, 6,401 people were turned back. 

Scholz said the number of irregular migrants being returned to their home countries had increased by 30 percent in light of the new border measures, adding that the government has taken “practical” action to restrict irregular migration.

Alongside tighter border controls, the government has also taken steps to speed up the asylum process in order to determine which migrants have a valid claim.

Deportation debate intensified by recent events

Discussions over deportations escalated in Germany after a 25-year-old Afghan went on a knife rampage at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim back in May. 

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

A police officer, 29, died of his wounds after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack, while five attendees at the Pax Europa rally were injured.

clean-up in Mannheim

Members of the fire brigade clean away the blood at the scene where several people were injured in a knife attack on May 31, in Mannheim.
Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP

The deadly attack sparked a furious debate over whether criminals should be returned to places like Afghanistan and Syria, even if those countries were deemed unsafe.

Scholz, who has previously voiced his support for deporting dangerous criminals to their home countries, said the government was currently working on ways to do so.

“Are we allowed to choose who comes to Germany? Yes,” the SPD politician said at the summer press conference in Berlin on Wednesday.

The Federal Government is working “very precisely” on deporting “offenders in particular” to Syria and Afghanistan, he added. 

A court in Münster recently concluded that parts of Syria were now safe for migrants to be returned to, potentially upending Germany’s long-standing asylum policy for citizens of the war-torn country. 

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