Green leader
Long: Far from climate targets in the transport sector
Cars, buses and trucks are stuck in traffic on the A8 motorway at Irschenberg. photo
© Peter Kneffel/dpa
Climate protection remains a bone of contention in the traffic light coalition. Green Party leader Ricarda Lang has once again made her party’s priorities clear.
In the dispute in the traffic light coalition about climate protection and road construction, Greens leader Ricarda Lang continues to focus on achieving the climate goals in the transport sector. There is a climate protection law “that we have to comply with,” Lang said on Friday on Deutschlandfunk. “And we can’t do that yet, especially in the transport sector.”
It’s not about an ideological dispute about cars, Lang emphasized. And it’s not about no more roads being built at all. “It’s not my position and I rarely know this position.” It is about whether road construction is given an “overriding public interest” which means that nature conservation tests, for example, no longer have to be carried out. The Greens leader called for a prioritization that should be based on which infrastructure contributes to the transformation and climate protection. An “overriding public interest” for motorways and the construction of new roads is therefore the wrong way.
Lang, on the other hand, spoke out in favor of accelerating planning for the expansion of rail and renewable energies. “Because that’s what we need in this country. Far too many processes need far too slow.”
On Thursday evening, consultations between the leaders of the traffic light parties and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) came to no conclusion after more than three hours. Nevertheless, Lang was confident that the SPD, Greens and FDP will find a solution. “In the end we didn’t come to an agreement. But we will continue to talk.”