Greens in Lützerath: “De-escalation – the order of the day”

The Greens want to focus more on climate protection this year. The party made this clear at a board meeting. But first there is a sensitive issue: the protests in Lützerath.

The Greens have warned of a tough confrontation before the planned evacuation of the village of Lützerath in the Rhineland. “I think de-escalation of everyone involved is now the order of the day,” said co-chairman Ricarda Lang on the sidelines of a retreat by the party’s federal executive board.

Although the energy company RWE has a legal right here, negotiations have succeeded in ensuring that coal in the Rhenish mining area will end in 2030 and that several villages where people still live will not be excavated, said Lang. “Nevertheless, I understand the people who are demonstrating there now, the frustration and, above all, the pressure for more climate protection.”

Focus on phasing out coal by 2030

The focus should now be on efforts to phase out coal nationwide in Germany by 2030. Lang pointed out that within the black-green state government of North Rhine-Westphalia, Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) was responsible for the police operation.

The energy company RWE wants to demolish Lützerath in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia in order to mine the coal underneath. Numerous climate protection groups who have occupied the village are currently protesting there.

State elections are the subject of the exam

Other topics of the two-day retreat of the Greens include the upcoming state elections in Berlin, Bremen, Hesse and Bavaria and the challenges in climate policy. “2023 must be the year of climate protection,” says Green leader Lang. This applies to the expansion of renewable energies and the renovation of buildings. And it should also apply to the transport sector in particular. “Because there we are still far too far away from meeting our climate targets,” says Lang.

Among other things, Lang proposes reducing environmentally harmful subsidies, investing more in rail and rail transport and changing the so-called company car privilege.

Nouripour: Great challenges

Co-party leader Omid Nouripour sees major challenges for the economy and prosperity, he says. A transformation towards climate neutrality is urgently needed, and the question of the international competitiveness of companies also depends on it.

The Greens’ top candidate in the Berlin House of Representatives elections in February, Bettina Jarasch, said her goal was “to get the city running again.” To do this, she wants to forge an alliance with business and the trade unions, rebuild the city so that you can get around everywhere without a car, and implement the plans for administrative reform that were drawn up years ago. There is also a lot to do in the schools. Most recently, only the shortage of teachers and buildings were discussed, the question of the quality of education was neglected.

Positive summary

Even if the Greens want to look ahead, before their exam, they looked at the past year with self-confidence. “We Greens can handle crises,” says Lang, noting that the country has been taken through turbulent waters, through a situation that many could not have imagined a year ago.