Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

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

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

MEDIA

Licence fees and cuts: How Germany plans to overhaul its public broadcasters

German politicians are mulling a reform of public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, with cuts to TV and radio programmes and potential licence fee increases on the horizon. Here's what we know so far about the plans.

Published: 20 September 2024 17:02 CEST
Licence fees and cuts: How Germany plans to overhaul its public broadcasters

Everyone who’s lived in Germany for any length of time will have encountered the Rundfunkbeitrag: a quarterly licence fee that’s paid by households to shore up the country’s public broadcasters. 

As soon as you register at a new address, a letter comes in the post to remind you of your obligation to pay the bill – regardless of whether you’ve been watching these TV channels and listening to public radio or not. 

ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio are all funded by these contributions, which are designed to ensure that public broadcasters remain independent and free from political interference.

Though the some €8.2 billion raked in by these broadcasters each year is used more efficiently than by many private broadcasters, the licence fee is failing to cover all the costs incurred by these media behemoths.

The fee has also gone up by just 20 percent over almost two decades, which means a real-term cut in funding for the broadcasters as the increases failed to keep pace with inflation.

READ ALSO: Do I have to pay Germany’s Rundfunkbeitrag?

Against this backdrop, Germany’s Broadcasting Commission has issued a series of recommendations for a sweeping reform of the public broadcasters. 

Alongside cuts to core channels and numerous radio stations, the commission has also raised the spectre of potential increases in the monthly licence fee.

While the plans still need to be voted on at a meeting of state premiers next week, media reports on Thursday gave an inkling of what the overhaul could look like.

This is what could be on the horizon for Germany’s public broadcasters and their viewers. 

Are the license fees set to go up? 

For the meantime, no – but there could be.

Originally, the commission responsible for setting the fee – the KEF – had recommended a rise of 58 cents per month from the start of 2025. This would have taken the licence fee from €18.36 to €18.94 per month.

However, the latest version of the plans states that the licence fee will not increase from January 2025, but will initially remain at the current amount of €18.36 per month.

A remittance slip for German broadcasting fees

A remittance slip for German broadcasting fees. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Nicolas Armer

The question of whether to increase the fee will depend on the savings accrued by a number of planned cuts to services over the coming months. 

According to federal state leaders, the broadcasters aren’t expected to file any formal complaints if the increase in fees is suspended for now.

That may be because the proposals contain a mechanism for increasing contributions more in the future, by linking them to price developments such as inflation. 

What kind of cuts are we talking about?

Big ones, by the sounds of things. Following a meeting on Wednesday, the Broadcasting Commission announced that at least 20 radio programmes and around half of the ten TV channels would be abolished.

This would cut the number of channels down to around five or six and the number of radio programmes to around 50.

The cuts were confirmed on Thursday by Rhineland-Palatinate state secretary for media Heike Raab (SPD) and her Saxon counterpart Conrad Clemens (CDU), both of whom sit on the Broadcasting Commission. 

According to Raab and Clemens, the broadcasters will be able to decide themselves which channels to get rid of.

In the case of special-interest channels such as Arte, 3sat, Kinderkanal, Phoenix, ZDF neo, One or tagesschau24, four to five channels could be cut.

READ ALSO: Six ways to fall in love with learning German again

There are also plans to limit and reduce the sports rights budgets of ARD and ZDF, which would restrict the number of sports events that the broadcasters could air in the future.

When will we know more?

So far, the proposals haven’t yet been agreed on by the all-important state leaders – but they are set to meet next week to discuss a way forward.

If they greenlight the plans, a two-week public hearing will take place online to enable licence-fee payers to have their say. 

A final decision will then be made at the State Premiers’ Conference in Leipzig on October 24th and 25th.

After that, all 16 state parliaments will have to approve the reform package, which could then come into force in the summer of 2025.

SHOW COMMENTS