Inadequate climate protection: Luisa Neubauer takes Kühnert and Wissing into a mangle

Shortly before the federal election, the ZDF talk with Markus Lanz is mainly about climate protection. The guests do not agree.

Berlin – In his broadcast on September 21, 2021, Markus Lanz on ZDF was about to re-examine the programs of the FDP and the SPD and, indirectly, the Greens with regard to certain topics, shortly before the federal election in 2021. For this purpose, the moderator Kevin Kühnert, deputy SPD boss, Volker Wissing, FDP general secretary, and Luisa Neubauer, environmental activist, invited into the studio.

In Markus Lanz’s ZDF talk, Kevin Kühnert is caught in the crossfire

The ZDF discussion was heated from the start. Kevin Kühnert, to whom Markus Lanz wanted to show that he was entangled in contradicting arguments, first got caught in the crossfire. The point was that Kühnert announced that the SPD was strictly excluding a grand coalition. Lanz wanted to know how that fits with the statement that one is basically ready to talk to all democratic parties, as the SPD otherwise formulates.

Kühnert then made it clear that the SPD was pursuing the goal of preventing the formation of a government with the CDU and CSU and that the exclusion would therefore extend to these parties. In his opinion, in view of the results to be calculated, one will not even be embarrassed to have to decide whether to embark on a grand coalition. Since one can rely on his word, he guarantees that, as an individual politician, in such an unlikely event he would refuse to hold office in the government. Volker Wissing was not quite as absolutist for the FDP, who does not want a grand coalition, but does not rule it out from the start.

Climate protection is the most burning issue for Markus Lanz (ZDF)

The most burning topic of the ZDF talk with Markus Lanz was climate protection. On the part of the environmental activist Luisa Neubauer, the two politicians had to hear that at the moment neither party was able to show a sensible and efficient climate policy. She spoke of disappointment that although every party is committed to climate protection, none of them come out with a real vision on the subject. Neither party had shown the courage to speak honestly about the catastrophic conditions and to admit their obvious failure to take action so far. Only with such a step, according to Neubauer, could one of the parties have succeeded in positioning itself confidently and forward-looking.

The SPD and FDP accused Neubauer of insufficient determination in the exit from the coal-fired power plants, and that neither party had a plan on how the measures from the Paris Agreement should actually be adhered to. The argument of Volker Wissing, who solemnly presented the plan of the FDP to reduce CO2 emissions, which should run through a certificate trade, Neubauer rejected uncompromisingly.

Luisa Neubauer attacks politics in Markus Lanz’s ZDF talk

The attendees were hesitant to respond to Kevin Kühnert’s statement that politicians lacked suitable language to explain the climate crisis in an understandable way. For Kühnert it is crucial not only to list scenarios, one has to convince and mobilize majorities for the topic. The people, and that is understandable and correct, would compare possible measures with their everyday life. The framework conditions for socially just climate protection are not yet in place.

The three of them did not agree until the end of the ZDF talk. And Neubauer’s, over time, more than redundant and the two politicians in terms of self-righteous behavior in nothing below, was ultimately not able to convince through the sheer repetition of their arguments.

Kühnert and Wissing argue with Markus Lanz (ZDF) about the minimum wage

Markus Lanz then asked Kühnert and Wissing’s attitudes regarding the question of pensions, the tax burden and the minimum wage. Kühnert did not completely rule out the proposal of the FDP, as Wissing put forward, to create a capital or share pension, but saw it only as a voluntary addition.

While Wissing spoke out against any tax increases, as Germany is already a high-tax country for him, Kühnert pointed in the other direction by saying that Germany is, if you look at the level of state social benefits, more in line with the European average. The two politicians also took opposing positions on the minimum wage.

While Kühnert advocated a minimum wage of 12 euros, Wissing estimated this to be far too high. He was in favor of leaving the task of determining the level of the minimum wage to an independent specialist commission, because it makes no sense that people might once be entitled to a higher wage, but then no longer have any jobs available stand because the companies could not afford it. For him, the focus should be on investing more in education. With the issue of the minimum wage, the parties operated an unnecessary and unfair competition. (Teresa Vena)