Latest news with #FelixBanaszak
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German Green leader slams coalition deal as 'valium for Europe'
The German Greens have delivered a scathing assessment of the coalition deal announced by the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) on Wednesday. Following the announcement, Felix Banaszak, one of the Green Party's leaders, said: "This farce that we have just seen does not do justice to the situation." According to Banaszak, Germany and the world are facing three major problems: the climate crisis, the erosion of the rules-based order and the rise of right-wing extremism. Germany's future coalition partners have "not even the slightest response" to any of these crises, he said. Instead, the coalition plans to soften climate targets, Banaszak stressed. Banaszak's co-leader, Franziska Brantner, described the coalition agreement as "valium for Europe." "It says nothing about how we want to make progress in European defence, how we want to be at the forefront of technology, how we want to strengthen our internal market," she said, adding that the agreement shows cowardice in the face of US President Donald Trump. The Greens are part of the outgoing government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and currently hold both the Foreign Ministry and the Environment Ministry.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Climate change missing from German coalition negotiations, say Greens
Climate change and environmental protection are being ignored in ongoing negotiations over the formation of the next German government, the Greens said on Monday. The party's co-leader Felix Banaszak argued in Berlin that "climate, environment and nature conservation are obviously not part of this government, and climate and energy policies only seem to have a decorative function in these negotiations." Following elections in February, the conservative CDU/CSU bloc - made up of Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats and the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU) - is negotiating with the centre-left Social Democrats over the formation of a governing coalition. Merz, the presumptive next chancellor, is hoping to have a government in place by the Easter holidays in April. But the Greens are concerned that environmental policy is not a key focus for the incoming administration, with talks centring on migration, cuts to social spending and tax policy. Ahead of another round of negotiations in the German capital on Monday, CSU leader Markus Söder said "major breakthroughs" must occur this week. "Now comes the week of truth, I would say, in which we have to set the fundamental course," said Söder, the premier of the southern state of Bavaria. "As always in life, it's about the most important thing: the money. But we will find a solution." The arduous coalition negotiations come at a critical time for Europe amid US President Donald Trump's return to the White House. Banaszak said that Germany cannot afford to cut critical development programmes, as seen in the United States. China, Russia and other authoritarian states are ready to step in to fill the vacuum, he argued.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Germany's Greens call coalition talks result 'poison for our country'
Germany's Greens have harshly criticized the results of the exploratory talks between the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD) on forming a government. Instead of solving structural problems, the parties want to do as they did in previous centre-left governments and pour money into everything, Green party leader Franziska Brantner said in Berlin on Saturday. "That is poison for our country." Co-party leader Felix Banaszak emphasized: "We are further from an agreement today than we have been in the last few days." The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the are likely to need the votes of the Greens to pass the security package they agreed on a few days ago. They had agreed to relax the debt brake for higher defence spending and to create a debt-financed special fund of €500 billion ($528 billion) for infrastructure. The changes, for which a two-thirds majority is needed, are to be decided by the existing Bundestag – in the next Bundestag it will be more difficult because of new majorities. Specifically, the Greens are accusing the CDU and SPD of wanting to finance their election promises with these new funds instead of using the money for actual improvements. "We see that the €500 billion are obviously not supposed to be used for additional infrastructure projects, but for election promises, pensions for mothers and commuter allowances," said Brantner. It was "depressing" that climate protection does not play a role, Banaszak added.
