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Peter Altmaier enters the conference room panting. “I have to acclimatize a bit first,” he says flatly. Ironically, in this Friday’s appointment, one of the most important as federal minister of Economy, the CDU politician is ten minutes late.
Without taking a deep breath, he begins to speak. Altmaier’s tone grows stronger and stronger: “I propose to make an attempt to establish a broad parliamentary consensus on the central issues of climate protection,” he says.
The fight against global warming and for a booming economy: for the minister, they are now “Siamese twins,” he says. He suggests 20 points: among other things, climate protection as a national goal, for which a fixed percentage of gross domestic product will be invested, in clearly defined annual steps.
Not even the Chancellor knew the details
Peter Altmaier has plans. One to save the climate. A second to support his party in the federal elections of 2021. And a third, to stay at the forefront of politics even after the era of Chancellor Angela Merkel, to whom he owes his promotion. A strategy to make the country’s climate neutral by 2050 fits in every way. It the SPIEGEL interview, she explains her ideas.
Altmaier wrote his climate plan himself, without his officials, without experts. At the press conference, he said that he had “finalized his proposals overnight.”
The finance minister’s plan was to surprise political friends and foes alike. Had he agreed, his plan would have been “leaked” beforehand, says Altmaier. For this reason, he himself only told the Chancellor that he wanted to throw a stone into the water this Friday.
Altmaier wants above all to take the Greens by surprise, whom he sees as apparently the biggest competitor in the middle class arena.
And the competitor reacts less than two hours later. “Climate protection means doing, not advertising,” party leader Annalena Baerbock told SPIEGEL.
Baerbock is not falling into the trap of rejecting the finance minister’s offer and thus falling into the role of environmental brakeman. “We support every step that implements the Paris Climate Agreement and we are ready to offer advice and action, but not for diversionary maneuvers,” he says. It sounds similar with Cem Özdemir: “It’s always good when there are opportunities to speak. At the moment, you just don’t believe in seriousness.”
Greens are relaxed
From the perspective of the Greens, Altmaier’s initiative repeats a well-known pattern: the grand coalition has announced climate protection, but it falls far short of the expectations of civil society, and of the Greens themselves. Baerbock recalls the carbon phase out and the climate protection law. Faced with both, the Greens feared the loss of votes and worse election results. The coal commitment was then prolonged, the climate protection law was harshly criticized, not only by the opposition.
But if the grand coalition really did decide on effective climate protection, the Greens would find themselves in a dilemma. What could you say against meeting one of your core concerns? On the other hand, they would lose their most effective campaign theme.
The Greens don’t want to admit that Altmaier has made important strategic plans. “The announcement of a letter seems more like an impotent attempt by the economy minister not to always be perceived as a problem when it comes to climate protection,” Oliver Krischer, an energy expert from the Green parliamentary group, told SPIEGEL. So far Altmaier “has attracted attention mainly because he works against climate protection.” “It seems strange when the Minister of Economy, of all people, gives him the great climate protector.”
Altmaier wants to bring back the bourgeois voices of the Greens
Altmaier will take the reprimand in stride. Especially when the strategists of the Green Party really believe that he acted without calculation. Because he has, as he revealed to SPIEGEL. In it he explains that the Union has very little competition on environmental issues among voters. However, he believes that climate will be the dominant theme for decades to come and, for him, Fridays for Future is the largest political movement since the peace movement.
If it removed the green votes, it would be good for the CDU in many ways. It would extend the lead in the 2021 federal elections.
The weaker Greens would possibly slide from second to third place behind the SPD. This would thwart a possible green-red-red government option in the federal government, and the way would be clear for a black-green alliance. Many in the CDU would have preferred that after the last election, especially Peter Altmaier. If necessary, the FDP would have to be the third partner if the votes are not enough for a bipartisan alliance with the Greens.
Even the internal critics of Altmaier’s party are full of praise
It’s remarkable how appreciative his party friends are for Altmaier’s climate initiative. He had been violently attacked last year for his industrial strategy. Too much state interventionist, it was said at the time. Precisely this judgment could also be obtained with a series of proposals on the climate: transformation plans, annual plans, an energy transition house. To the people of the Market Liberal Union, this might sound like the Minister of Finance has succumbed to socialism. Not to mention the exorbitant cost of the plan.
But the economic wing of the Union seems to have understood what Altmaier is doing. Even its worst critics are full of praise: “The proposal may be an important step towards creating a balance between protecting the climate and competitiveness of the economy,” CDU conservative economic expert Joachim Pfeiffer told SPIEGEL.
Andreas Jung from Baden-Württemberg, plus a climate activist at the CDU, agreed with him: “It is good that Peter Altmaier, as Minister of Economic Affairs, is now taking the initiative, because technological leadership is a matter of survival for the German economy “.
The coalition partner is angry
The mood of the current SPD coalition partner is completely different. Superficially because Altmaier did not inform them and in recent years he has never really stood out as a great environmental friend. SPD environmental expert Matthias Miersch told SPIEGEL that Altmaier’s approach was “unbelievable, implausible and quite blatant.”
The Minister of Economy is “cordially invited to renounce constant resistance and adequately promote with us the expansion of renewable energies.”
Altmaier’s Social Democratic cabinet colleague, Environment Minister Svenja Schulze, expressed a similar view. Altmaier’s article addresses a central area of her department. “I am happy about the tailwind for climate protection,” said Schulze, criticizing that he would have liked to have received it earlier from the Minister of Economy. By the way, the Paris Climate Agreement is “the best climate chart I know.”
Schulze’s mocking tone suggests that he is suspicious of Altmaier’s calculation of trying to steal a problem from the other parties.
The political consequences of Altmaier’s initiative can also be seen in the reaction of the FDP. Since the clumsy remarks of their party leader Christian Lindner in Fridays for Future (climate protection is “a matter for professionals”), liberals have had a real vacuum on the issue.
Therefore, Lindner is slightly offended by the minister’s offer. Altmaier brought up the conversation, “which we have long considered necessary. More than a year ago we called for a national climate consensus,” Lindner told SPIEGEL.
The decisions would have to “last more than one legislative period.” But one wonders how seriously the offer is understood. “However, we reject a climate pact that is supposed to only create an agreement between the CDU, the CSU and the Greens,” Lindner says.
Your concern should be quite justified. Because there is more room for Peter Altmaier in a black-green coalition than in a Jamaican coalition.
