German ministries fail to agree details of climate deal – sources

FAN Editor
FILE PHOTO: Global Climate Strike in Berlin
FILE PHOTO: (L-R) Defence Minister and leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bavaria’s State Premier and leader of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) Markus Soeder, interim leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) Malu Dreyer, German Chief of Staff and CDU politician Helge Braun and German Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz pose after agreeing a broad climate plan after marathon overnight talks an all- night coalition committee meeting. Axel Schmidt/Pool via Reuters

October 2, 2019

By Markus Wacket

BERLIN (Reuters) – German ministries have failed to agree on a set of climate protection measures, government sources told Reuters on Wednesday, leaving little time to fulfil Chancellor Angela Merkel’s plan to pass the landmark package by the end of the year.

The disagreements between the environment, finance, economy and transport ministries could further erode the credibility of Merkel’s right-left coalition, weakened by regional election losses and infighting, and up for review by the end of the year.

The ministries have been unable to agree on the scale of measures to cut emissions of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. These are due to include raising car and air traffic taxes as well as increasing a road toll for trucks from 2023, said sources briefed on the talks.

The ministries are also at odds on how many tonnes of CO2 each of those measures will shave off Germany’s total emissions.

Merkel’s conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners agreed a budget-neutral outline for the climate package last month, although environmental groups said it did not go far enough.

The government had wanted the details to be presented to cabinet on Wednesday. The delay means there are only 10 days left for the government to sign the package off in time to get it through parliament before the end of the year.

(Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Free America Network Articles

Leave a Reply

Next Post

Britain’s Prince Harry and wife Meghan to visit South African township

Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive at the Youth Employment Services (YES) Hub as they visit Tembisa township, near Johannesburg, South Africa, October 2, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville October 2, 2019 JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will tour […]