Habeck: Climate protection can only fail due to incompetence or unwillingness

Germany's parliament on Tuesday passed a historic bill unlocking a record level of state borrowing for defence and infrastructure through amending the country's constitutionally enshrined fiscal rules.

The Greens were originally reluctant to offer their support of the bill until they received guarantees last week that €100 billion of the special fund would be directed to supporting climate economic transformation measures.

After the vote, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stressed the close connection between climate protection, energy policy, and security at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD).

"This is a strong and powerful signal, also to our friends in Europe and the world. Germany stands ready to face the epochal challenges posed by the security and climate crises with full force," she said.

"This €100 billion for climate action is a direct investment in our future and thus also in our prosperity and security. To be clear: climate policy is security policy."

Outgoing Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Robert Habeck, warned that it was now up to politicians to implement the special fund.

"Climate protection in Germany will no longer fail due to money. It can only fail due to inability or unwillingness," he said.

Although climate change was still a prominent topic at last year’s Munich Security Conference, current geopolitical conflicts have pushed the issue off the political agenda. In snap federal elections in Germany in February, climate change was only a marginal topic.

At the BETD, Habeck told Euronews it was important to put the climate crisis back on the political agenda.

"The lessons are all there. The Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue has expanded on this once again. Security, prices, climate neutrality – everything speaks in favour of bringing this issue forward now and building on the success," he said.

"We need politicians who continually explain (this issue) to the people, to the public. And we also need these people in the media, who continually ask the right questions."

In their criticism of the first draft of the financial package, the Greens initially accused the SPD and CDU of wanting to use the package to finance their election promises.

The Greens complained that the package lacked sufficient commitments to climate protection and only after talks with the SPD and the CDU/CSU was an agreement reached on allocating specific climate funds.

Democracy must be successful

When asked how the rise of right-wing and anti-democratic forces in Germany and Europe can be countered, Habeck explained that adopting the attitude of right-wing populism in a watered-down form is the wrong strategy.

Where this had already happened, populism and right-wing radicalism had always won - especially to the detriment of the conservative parties, which would be “eaten up.”

“That's why the opposite is true,’ emphasised Habeck. “You have to focus on your own values and clearly explain what democracy, freedom of opinion and a diverse society offer in terms of added value and wealth. But it is not enough to simply proclaim these values. Democracy must also be successful and solve the pressing problems.”

Habeck referred to the recent reform of the debt brake by the German parliament and the increase in security and defence spending, which were already overdue.

“The traffic light coalition would certainly not have collapsed if the CDU/CSU had behaved as statesmanlike as my party did,” he added.

“But the traffic light government is perhaps not the decisive factor,” Habeck continued.

“The important thing is that we have simply lost years. People have become unemployed, companies have gone bankrupt. We have done too little, too late for Ukraine because the CDU/CSU did not take the step that we took yesterday as the upcoming opposition party. They will have to live with this guilt - for decades to come.”