The leaders of Germany’s Greens said on Tuesday they would not insist on fixed dates to shut down coal-fired power stations and ban cars with internal combustion engines, dropping two key demands ahead of crunch coalition talks with other parties.Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose conservative bloc came first but lost seats in a federal election in […]
The leaders of Germany’s Greens said on Tuesday they would not insist on fixed dates to shut down coal-fired power stations and ban cars with internal combustion engines, dropping two key demands ahead of crunch coalition talks with other parties.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose conservative bloc came first but lost seats in a federal election in September, is trying to forge a tricky three-way alliance with the Greens and the pro-business FDP that is untested at national level, Reuters reported.
Despite weeks of exploratory talks, the parties remain far apart on climate, energy and immigration policy and they disagree on where the blame lies for the lack of progress.
A lack of progress in coalition talks would mean that Germany faces a lengthy period of drift at a time when Europe’s biggest economy is firing on all cylinders and many in Europe look to Berlin for leadership on issues ranging from euro zone governance to trans-Atlantic ties. “For us, it doesn’t matter if the last coal-fired power station is off the grid in 2030 or 2032. That’s where we are pragmatic,” Greens co-leader Simone Peter told Rheinische Post newspaper ahead of the next round of negotiations.
Peter said, however, that it was crucial to agree on further climate protection measures in order to reduce Germany’s CO2 emissions by 40% until 2020 compared to the level of 1990 as Merkel had promised earlier.
