The Green budget politician Sven-Christian Kindler has spoken out in favor of a gradual dismantling of climate-damaging subsidies.

Kindler told the German Press Agency that such a reduction would bring a threefold return: “It is good for the climate, it opens up room for maneuver in the budget and ensures fair competition.

This is an opportunity for a new, progressive government. ”Kindler is a member of the finance and budget working group in the coalition negotiations between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP.

In their exploratory paper, the three parties announced that they would review the budget for “superfluous, ineffective and environmentally and climate-damaging subsidies and expenditures” in order to gain additional budgetary leeway.

Federal Environment Agency reckons with many billions

According to a study by the Federal Environment Agency, environmentally harmful subsidies have increased in recent years despite greater climate protection efforts. The dismantling of tax breaks for passenger cars and agricultural diesel, for the private use of fossil fuel company cars and for agricultural vehicles as well as the commuter allowance would bring the public sector additional income in the double-digit billion range.

"It is not smart, in the middle of the climate crisis, to fuel this with large double-digit billions in taxpayers' money," explained Kindler.

“Climate-damaging subsidies make the transformation of the economy expensive and inefficient, distort the market and burden the budget.

In addition, they pass climate costs on to society and are unjust.

Climate-damaging subsidies contradict the logic of a socio-ecological market economy. "

Lindner defends commuter flat-rate

FDP leader Christian Lindner also announced a review of federal subsidies.

But he sticks to the commuter flat rate.

The reduction in subsidies should "not result in a tax increase for the working middle class, as would be the case with the commuter allowance," said Lindner of the Rheinische Post.

Instead, he questioned the funding for hybrid cars with combustion engines and separately chargeable electric motors: "For example, we are spending one billion euros in subsidies for plug-in vehicles that have no reliable ecological benefit," said Lindner.

Green youth want to exclude new highways

The federal spokesman for the Green Youth, Timon Dzienus, warned his party against making too big concessions in the traffic light negotiations.

The Green Youth will only agree to a coalition agreement if “something really changes,” he said in an interview with the news magazine Spiegel.

"We will critically monitor the traffic light's actions." It is the task of the youth organization to show if it does not agree to compromises.

Specifically, he called for, among other things, an apprenticeship guarantee for young people and a halt to the construction of the motorway.

“With every new road, we deepen people's dependence on cars for decades,” said Dzienus.

The savings in road construction could pay for the expansion of local public transport.

Investments of at least 1.5 billion euros are required here.

The federal spokesman for the Green Youth also emphasized that the Greens should not see themselves exclusively as an eco-party.

“We must not allow ourselves to be reduced to the climate.” The Greens could “provide answers in all political fields”.

Dzienus spoke out in favor of filling the finance department.

"The Treasury is extremely important to anything the Greens want to create," he said.

The three traffic light parties started their coalition negotiations about a week ago.

The aim of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP is to agree on a joint coalition agreement by the end of November.

At the beginning of December, SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz could then be elected as the new head of government.

Before that, however, the three parties would have to approve the negotiated government program in grassroots surveys or at party conferences.