Consternation over SPD leader Nahles’s attack on Green climate policy

The criticism of the Green Party’s climate policy by Andrea Nahles, leader of the  SPD, Germany’s junior government coalition partner, has led to consternation and objections by the Greens and environmental groups. NGO Greenpeace said in a mailed statement that the Social Democrat’s vow to protect the interest of coal workers against an overly ambitious climate protection policy was “a slap in the face to everyone already affected by climate change”. Greenpeace spokesman Tobias Münchmeyer said the hot, dry summer in Germany had caused great damage to many people in the country, “but the SPD’s leader does not mention this.” Nahles will only be able to modernise her party, which is battling a decade-long decline in voter support, when she is ready to leave “the outdated role of a pro-coal party” and turn towards fully embracing renewables as the way forward, he added.
The Green Party’s parliamentary group leader, Anton Hofreiter, said Nahles’s comments demonstrated that the SPD was “helpless, drifting and lashing about” to counter its descent. Instead of putting climate action into question, the SPD leader should instead engage with the Greens in finding viable solutions for the economic future of coal regions.

Find the article in German here.

See the CLEW factsheet Germany’s three lignite mining regions and CLEW’s Commission watch for background.