The 9 euro ticket has expired. The federal and state governments are crossed when it comes to the expansion of local public transport. The top Greens in the country want a booster for the infrastructure - at the expense of the black zero.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Green Party leader Lena Schwelling is pushing for a change of course in the budget policy of the green-black government because of climate change. Schwelling demands that the country use an exception clause in the debt brake in order to be able to advance the traffic turnaround and thus climate protection more quickly. "I'm all for investing. It's also a question of intergenerational justice," she told the German Press Agency in Stuttgart. The "black zero" is always justified by the fact that it is important for future generations to still have leeway. "Financial leeway on a destroyed planet only makes sense to a limited extent," warned the 30-year-old Green party leader.
Green-Black wants to comply with the debt brake in the 2023/2024 double budget, but also sees relatively little scope for investment due to the financial burdens caused by the Ukraine war. The government's budget committee is meeting this Monday.
Schwelling: Not investing would be a "huge mistake"
On the other hand, Schwelling called for significantly more funding for infrastructure and rail and bus transport. "It's a huge mistake that we're not making investments now that we know will pay off at some point. It'll cost us more later." It is similar with the energetic renovation of state buildings. For financing, she suggested using a clause in the debt brake. "You could actually say: In view of the climate crisis, we have one of those natural disasters that allow the debt brake to be an exception. And that's why we're borrowing more money to fight the climate crisis, for example in the transport sector, where an incredible number of greenhouse gases are still emitted. "
How do you define grandparent politics?
She admitted that the exception to the debt brake was more difficult to explain than with Corona. "You could say: Because of the crisis, company XY got into trouble and that's why we're borrowing money to save the company." This is easier to understand than saying: "We have to fundamentally change the way we travel and spend money to fight the climate crisis, which is much slower and much more insidious."
Schwelling referred to recent extreme weather events. "We feel it now, we notice it in crop failures due to the drought. We have these heavy rain events, we have an increase in heat deaths in the cities." She believes that future generations will not ask about money. "But they will ask us: Why didn't you do anything about the climate crisis when you could?" Referring to the CDU, she said: "How you can define grandchildren's justice only in financial terms is a complete mystery to me."
Massive criticism of FDP Transport Minister Wissing
The Greens don't just see the country as responsible. "We also need enormous investments and an ambitious package of measures for the transport sector at federal level in order to achieve our climate goals." She sharply criticized Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP): "The draft of the immediate climate protection program for the transport sector misses the specifications so far that one has to ask oneself whether the minister is acting out of ignorance or knowingly trying to reach the agreed climate targets to undermine."
State should co-finance railway projects even more
It is sad how "run down" some sections of the railway in the southwest are. There are still single-track sections and many non-electrified routes. One cannot wait until the railways and the federal government invest here. "The state is much more involved in the co-financing of rail projects than was the case before Stuttgart 21." Schwelling is convinced: "In the future, it will be the norm that you really need all the authorities, i.e. federal, state and local authorities, if you want to advance this."
The 9-euro ticket showed "how uncomplicated bus and train travel can be. Now it's time to build on that," said Schwelling. In the southwest, for example, young people could use all public transport with the 365-euro ticket from March 2023. "This investment will pay off because it makes using public transport a matter of course for young people."
