The Green Agenda Is Tearing Up Germany’s Traffic Light Coalition
After 15 months in office, Germany’s governing coalition is straining. At the beginning of March, Economics Minister Robert Habeck’s draft bill proposing a ban on oil and gas heating systems starting as early as 2024 was leaked. His bill would only allow installation of heating systems that produce heat through “at least 65 percent renewable energies.”
Some were outraged, but Habeck accused his coalition partner of leaking the document and lacking commitment for the planet.
It cannot be that, in a progress coalition, only one coalition partner is responsible for progress and the others [focus on] preventing progress.
—Robert Habeck
Tested in crisis: During the current financial and geopolitical uncertainty, the previously popular Green ideals are being put to the test. What once caused the Greens to become one of the strongest parties in the government is now causing its fall—and with them perhaps the whole government.
Habeck has been one of the most popular politicians in Germany in the last 15 months. His party, the Greens, rose in popularity as they opposed Russia’s war on Ukraine. But as they return their focus to their own agenda, conflicts are rising.
The Greens coalition partners, the Social Democrats and Free Democrats (fdp) also vented their frustration. EuroIntelligence reported:
What also didn’t help is that the fdp’s vice chairman, the ever-noisy Wolfgang Kubicki, compared Habeck to [Russian President Vladmir] Putin. This is a bit astonishing given Kubicki’s own support for Nord Stream 2 and all things Russian until very recently. If the Greens got one thing right, it was that.
Will the coalition break? Polls indicate the Greens have declined from 23 percent last summer to currently 17 percent, and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland is rising to overtake them. The Greens have always been more of a protest party—they do better in the opposition than actually governing—so they are the most likely candidates to blow up a coalition so they can claim that the climate crisis is the other parties’ fault.
EuroIntelligence continued:
If Habeck concludes that he will get burned in a coalition that is forever blocked by his partners, he may take this government down with him. He would get his party behind him. The potential for an accident is high.
Where this is leading: Germans are willing to believe that more needs to be done for the climate. But they are unwilling to make major sacrifices for that while other more imminent crises loom, such as the war in Ukraine. Expect the people of Germany to cry out for new leadership that promises them security and a militarily strong Germany. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explained this prophesied sudden transformation in “Ukraine Is Hastening a New Germany.”
