Traffic light coalition: Robert Habeck warns of failure of talks

DER SPIEGEL Traffic light coalition: Robert Habeck warns of failure of talks Marc Röhlig 3 hrs ago | Actually, the SPD, FDP and Greens are on schedule, SPD Secretary General Klingbeil expects to agree on the coalition agreement before St. Nicholas. But now Green Party leader Habeck is expressing reservations. The traffic light coalition is supposed to be in place by the beginning of December - and the SPD and FDP are optimistic that it will work. The Greens, however, are increasingly sceptical. Now Green Party leader Robert Habeck has warned that the coalition negotiations could fail. There had been agreement that the next government would have to be a climate government, he told rbb-Inforadio. However, the question now is what the SPD and FDP have achieved on the issue of climate protection in the negotiations so far. Habeck referred to the 1.5-degree path laid down in the exploratory paper of the three traffic light parties and said that measures for this had to be developed and wind turbines built. "On paper, yes, the climate is not saved yet, but if we don't get there, then we have failed in the coalition negotiations." He said it was not certain that an agreement would be reached within the targeted timetable - Habeck's co-party leader Annalena Baerbock had already expressed similar concerns. Formally, the sub-working groups had finished their work, Habeck said. On Monday and Tuesday, the main negotiating group should now meet with the party secretaries-general. "Then we will try to cut the knots." Climate protection is considered one of the most difficult issues in the SPD, Green and FDP negotiations. The 22 individual negotiating groups had finished their work on Wednesday. Since then, the results have been evaluated. From Monday onwards, the negotiations are to continue in a large round. SPD Secretary General Lars Klingbeil does not see the negotiations as being behind schedule. He is totally optimistic that the coalition agreement will be signed on 4 December and that Olaf Scholz will be elected chancellor in the week after St. Nicholas, Klingbeil told Bayerischer Rundfunk radio. Earlier, FDP leader Christian Lindner had also said he was sticking to the agreed timetable.