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Baden-Wuerttemberg
Traveling at 177 km / h: the Green Environment Minister caught speeding on the highway
Franz Untersteller, Minister for the Environment, Climate Protection and Energy Sector of Baden-Württemberg, receives a four-week driving ban, two points in Flensburg and has to pay a fine of 240 euros
© Sebastian Gollnow / DPA
A green sprinter? And then ministers? After drastically exceeding the speed limit, Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of the Environment, Untersteller, was thrown into a sackcloth. His critics demand consequences.
Baden-Württemberg Environment Minister Franz Untersteller has placed himself in an awkward position as a clear sinner. The green politician and defender of a general speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour was caught by the police in late November on Autobahn 8 at too high a speed.
Green had run out of 177 things. On the stretch of the motorway between Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, where he was stopped by the police, only 120 speed was allowed. The Ministry confirmed the incident reported by the daily “Bild”. The minister stressed on Wednesday: “I’m sorry.”
FDP asks for resignation
The head of the FDP parliamentary group, Hans-Ulrich Rülke, suggested that Untersteller resign. The Junge Union also considers it unsustainable. “An environment minister who demands a general speed limit and is too fast himself has lost all credibility and should resign,” said the director of the CDU youth organization, Philipp Bürkle. “Preaching water and drinking wine, that’s pure double standards.”
Untersteller rejected the demands and told the FDP leadership: “I think Mr Rülke should better consider the crimes for which he is making this demand.” He doesn’t see his credibility damaged: “If I did politics with a raised index finger as a moral apostle, that might be the case. But I’m not.”
The green politician wanted to visit his son, who lives with two children in Frankfurt. The minister explained: “I was on my way to see my family and I was in a hurry, I ignored the speed limit and the road conditions allowed me to drive fast.”
But that is not a justification. “I drove impermissibly too fast, that shouldn’t happen to me.” He told the newspaper: “Of course, this is not a minor infraction if you are traveling as clearly above the prescribed speed as I am.”
The consequences would be a lesson to him. He was banned from driving for four weeks, two points in Flensburg and had to pay a fine of 240 euros. Untersteller promised: “I will certainly be more careful in the future when I am behind the wheel.”
