Lawsuit of the German Environmental Aid: “Have already achieved a lot”
When asked about the lawsuit brought against the country by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) for an alleged lack of binding, statutory climate protection, the new partners referred both to the coalition agreement and to successes achieved in the past.
Schulze said that the climate issue appeared 84 times in the coalition agreement and that a separate chapter was also devoted to it. All requirements from Berlin and Brussels would be implemented. Kleemann formulated the goal of making Saxony-Anhalt a “climate-neutral federal state” and thereby implementing the climate goals in a “socially acceptable” manner.
Hüskens wants to focus on “science and innovation”. Prohibitions would not help “take people away”. Schmidt, in turn, mentioned that with Armin Willingmann, Saxony-Anhalt will have a climate protection minister for the first time. Reiner Haseloff said that no region in Europe has reduced CO2 emissions as significantly since 1990 as Saxony-Anhalt.
Confidence with Reiner Haseloff
The old and probably new Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff concluded by saying that the coalition paper was “the most exciting treaty in my political life”. If the government work goes as well as the coalition negotiations, “then it will be a lot of fun in this German coalition”.
Criticism from the Greens
Criticism comes from the opposition Greens: The new black, red and yellow state government is ignoring climate protection. The coalition is not delivering a single binding measure, but is making flowery demands, said the Greens state chairman Susan Sziborra-Seidlitz on Monday. The coalition agreement lacks any innovation, ambition and spirit of optimism that are urgently needed for the country.
Coalition with 56 out of 97 seats in the Magdeburg parliament
In the state elections on June 6, the CDU had gained more than seven percentage points and with 37.1 percent clearly received the most votes. The SPD, which has been a junior partner of the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt since 2006, had dropped to an all-time low of 8.4 percent.
The FDP managed to return to the state parliament with 6.4 percent after ten years and will return to the state government after 15 years. Together, the three government factions have 56 out of 97 seats in the Magdeburg parliament.