Berlin, June 16, (dpa/GNA) – German activists in the Fridays for Future movement attacked government plans to water down environmental legislation ahead of a march through central Berlin on Friday.
“We will do all in our power to block an irresponsible softening of the law,” Luisa Neubauer, a prominent activist in the German part of the movement told dpa.
Pit Terjung, who leads the movement in Berlin, noted that the ruling three-way coalition was approaching the halfway mark of its term in office and said it was “giving direct notice of a rejection of its own climate targets.”
The Greens in the coalition have had to concede ground to the liberal FDP on the introduction of a law to ban new heating systems using fossil fuels.
The two junior parties in the coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats have clashed over forcing homeowners to replace old heating systems.
An amendment to the Climate Action Law is currently before parliament.
Friday’s demonstration is to start at the FDP party headquarters shortly after noon and then head to the chancellery. Similar protests are planned in other German cities.
Fridays for Future is aiming to pressure the government three weeks before the summer recess. It blames the FDP for diluting and delaying measures to counter global warming, citing the conflict over heating systems in particular.
Neubauer and Terjung noted that the amendment would drop annual checks in industry, transport and agriculture on cutting back emissions. Neubauer described it as “incredible” that the coalition was deleting the sector-by-sector targets in the new legislation.
GNA