Support for a speed limit on German autobahns is growing in the CDU. “In the current situation, bans on thinking have to go on all sides and all options have to be on the table, including a temporary speed limit,” said deputy party leader Karin Prien Süddeutsche Zeitung. So far, the introduction of a general speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour was considered almost imminent in Union circles, but since the outbreak of the Ukraine war and the associated energy crisis, a rethinking process has apparently started.
Most recently, the CDU Vice Andreas Jung had dared to push for a speed limit. Now “everything has to go into the pot that helps us over the winter and saves CO₂,” said Jung picture-Newspaper. Among other things, he included nuclear energy and a “temporary speed limit” for the time of the energy crisis.
Jens Spahn, the Union parliamentary group leader responsible for the topics of economy and energy, also wants to conduct this debate “without blinkers”. Parts of the CDU have apparently recognized that it would be inconsistent to certify that the Greens and SPD were banned from thinking about the issue of extending the service life of nuclear power plants and at the same time ruled out all options for ideological reasons even when it came to the speed limit. According to reports, Spahn can imagine a kind of ban on thinking deal here: The Greens are moving on nuclear power, the Union on the speed limit.
Andreas Jung called on the federal government to take action on the speed limit, then he wanted to promote it in his party. The move has the certainly calculated side effect of being able to show the disagreement of the traffic light coalition. Because the FDP already blocked itself in the coalition negotiations against the speed limit – and it stays that way. The deputy FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki told the SZ: “Should a speed limit bring any relevant savings at all, then least of all with gas. With this abstruse pseudo-discussion, which is apparently now also being pursued by the Union, the actual problem is not being solved, but only by distracted him.” He thinks more of solving the real problems politically and not creating new ones instead, said Kubicki: “One has to seriously doubt the competence of those who publicly proclaim such an approach.”
CDU party leader Friedrich Merz did not want to comment on the subject at the weekend when asked. He is apparently still in the sampling phase here. The party leadership must be careful not to split its own camps in an attempt to drive a wedge into the traffic light coalition. In the executive committee, the head of the program commission, Carsten Linnemann, and the state chairman of Lower Saxony, Bernd Althusmann, are critical of the push for the speed limit. Althusmann, who is also the top candidate for the upcoming state elections, told the SZ that he considers the actual savings from a speed limit to be manageable. “Instead, we should concentrate on the crucial questions. For example, how we can generate more coal so that the gas storage tanks can be filled for the winter.” Criticism also comes from the CSU. “A rigid speed limit does not correspond to our position and is not the answer to the current challenges,” said the CSU MP Ulrich Lange. The CDU and CSU may be facing the next sibling dispute here.