Is the traffic light government failing in terms of infrastructure, climate protection and digitization? At “Maischberger” everyone agreed on Tuesday: at least the communication could be improved in many areas.
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (who was not present) was one of the people who received a lot of criticism in the ARD program “Maischberger” on Tuesday evening. Moderator Sandra Maischberger wanted to know from her guests whether the heating law was actually the milestone that the Green politician himself described as.
The guests
- Volker Wissing, FDP, Federal Minister of Transport
- Joachim Gauck, former Federal President
- Tina Hassel, head of the ARD capital studio
- Nikolaus Blome, head of politics at RTL/n-tv
- Valerie Niehaus, actress
Tina Hassel, head of the ARD capital studio, considered the possibility that it could be a millstone instead of a milestone. In principle, she considered it courageous that Habeck was tackling this issue. He and his party knew that this would cost votes. However, she criticized the content of the law’s implementation: “The law at the moment has a lot of ambiguities,” she said.
Blome on law: “It’s very, very bad craftsmanship”
The criticism from RTL/n-tv political chief Nikolaus Blome was much more severe. “It’s good intentions, but in any case it’s very, very bad craftsmanship,” said Blome. “Anyone who unsettles people so much that they no longer know whether they suddenly have an investment of EUR 30,000 at the next corner should not be surprised that a wave comes back.” And this is coming and going completely over Mr. Habeck, he alluded to the currently poor poll results of the Greens. This is not due to the population’s lack of willingness to protect the climate – but to “poor craftsmanship”, he repeated.
Hassel’s criticism also became sharper: “Communication is a catastrophe, but not only with the law. The traffic light is in many fundamental things in need of therapy”. The judgment of actress Valerie Niehaus was a little softer. She referred to the need for improvement in communication, especially when it came to “reasonableness”. “It’s not the communication. It’s the piece itself that’s bad,” replied Blome, who also explained: “The climate ministry is resistant to advice.”
Volker Wissing: “So absurd that I accepted the offer to talk”
Afterwards, Minister of Transport Volker Wissing was a guest – and had to present himself because of his meeting with representatives of the “last generation”. He condemned crimes committed by the activists in the strongest possible terms, he explained in advance. “That’s why there are no negotiations with the representatives of the ‘last generation’. But you have to listen to each other,” the minister explained the meeting.
“The conversation was polite, factual and conducted in a good manner. I didn’t understand these young people because the demands made of me do not justify this protest,” Wissing described the meeting. The required 9-euro ticket is significantly worse for climate protection than the Germany ticket that has now been decided.
The speed limit is only a small measure for climate protection. “That doesn’t make any sense: you ask small things of a minister who does big things in climate protection.” These are worse than the ones he does as a minister – and that’s what keeps you glued to the streets. “It’s so absurd that I accepted the offer to talk,” said Wissing. According to him, technological progress also speaks against the speed limit. “With electric vehicles, it doesn’t matter how fast they go, they have zero emissions.” There shouldn’t be another conversation.
Gauck: Set occupier limits
At the end of the program, former Federal President Joachim Gauck was a guest, who, among other things, commented on Russia’s war in Ukraine. “At a certain point you have to set limits for an occupant,” says Gauck. If you don’t want to fight yourself – “and we don’t want that” – then you have to curb an aggressor’s appetite, for example with sanctions.
