Status: 04/10/2022 4:42 p.m
Representatives of the SPD and the Greens are again pushing for a speed limit in order to become less dependent on the Russian energy market. But the FDP sticks to their no – the liberals do not believe in the benefit of such a measure.
Against the background of the Ukraine war, the SPD and the Greens once again campaigned for a speed limit on German autobahns. “In this crisis we should do it immediately, it saves energy immediately,” Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) told the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”.
He called for “entrenched dogmas” to be thrown overboard. A speed limit is a mild way to save energy during the Ukraine war. Greens boss Ricarda Lang had previously called for a temporary speed limit on motorways.
The deputy prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Monika Heinold (Greens), called on the FDP to take off “ideological blinkers”. “The speed limit is more than overdue,” she told the “Tagesspiegel”. She also expects Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to “make the 130 speed limit a top priority,” said Heinold.
“Purely selfish feeling of freedom”
The SPD state chairmen of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, Thomas Kutschaty and Thomas Losse-Müller, also joined the appeal. “I can’t explain to normal commuters why they should subsidize the fuel of those who absolutely want to travel at 220 km/h and thus consume more,” said Kutschaty, who is running on May 15 as the top candidate in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia . “A purely selfish sense of freedom is at the expense of the general public,” said Kuchaty in the direction of the FDP.
Losse-Müller, who is contesting the elections in Schleswig-Holstein on May 8, also advocated a speed limit. “This measure will make us independent of Russian energy imports more quickly,” he told the newspaper. “And at the same time, the speed limit will not cause any economic upheaval in Germany.”
resistance of the liberals
Against the background of the Ukraine war, an alliance of German environmental organizations and the head of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Reiner Hoffmann, recently spoke out in favor of a speed limit on German autobahns. A few weeks ago, the German Association of Cities called on the federal government to examine the introduction of a speed limit – to save energy. According to a study by the Federal Environment Agency, 2.1 billion liters of fossil fuels could be saved in Germany every year if the speed limit were 100 km/h on motorways and 80 km/h outside of town.
At the youngest ARD Germany trend 57 percent of respondents were in favor of a temporary speed limit on motorways, 38 percent rejected it.
A general speed limit has failed so far, mainly due to resistance from the liberals. The FDP had already rejected a speed limit on motorways in the coalition negotiations with the SPD and the Greens. A speed limit was also missing from the package of measures recently adopted by the coalition leaders to relieve pressure and save energy.
The FDP insists on its no to the speed limit. “The debate about a speed limit must be ended immediately, because it distracts from what really needs to be done now,” said parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr to the “Tagesspiegel”. “The impact of such a measure on our energy reserves would be zero,” he said.