"Angela Merkel broke her promise to be 'climate chancellor'"

Audio 05:07

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Governor Armin Laschet, CDU candidate, at the latter's meeting in Aachen, Saturday, September 25, 2021. AP - Martin Meissner

By: Charlotte Derouin

10 mins

The Germans are called to the polls tomorrow, Sunday September 26.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gives up her hand after 16 years in the chancellery.

And in the race for the chancellery, there are three who can win: the conservative Armin Laschet, the social democrat Olaf Scholz and the environmentalist Annalena Baerbock.

To talk about it, Charlotte Derouin is online with Hélène Miard-Delacroix, professor of history and civilization of contemporary Germany at Paris Sorbonne University.

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RFI: Ecology is one of the main concerns of the Germans for this election.

The climate was largely invited in this campaign, why is this theme so central in Germany in these elections?

Hélène Miard-Delacroix:

Ecology is nothing new in the minds of Germans. In the 1970s and 1980s, this was already the case. When there are polls done in Germany, the first answer given by the entire population, whatever the generation, is that something must be done for the climate. Simply, and this is where Angela Merkel admitted a very short time ago that she had somewhat failed in her policy in favor of ecology, it is because, if there is a commitment from the population a priori to preserve the climate, there is strong resistance to the implementation in practice, in particular of renewable energies. In Germany, we do not like to see wind turbines built not very far from home. And this is called in English the "Ynymba" (Yes but Not in My Backyard) and in French "Puma",that is to say "useful project, but elsewhere". So in Germany there is, how to say, an addition of levels, of decisions, from the local to the intermediary, to the regional, to the Land which slows down enormously the decisions to install renewable energy. And so, Germany is not at all at the level of the promises made by the Chancellor when in 2005, after having been herself Minister of Ecology in the 1990s, she had made the promise to be the chancellor of the climate.after having been herself Minister of Ecology in the 1990s, she had made the promise to be the chancellor of the climate.after having been herself Minister of Ecology in the 1990s, she had made the promise to be the chancellor of the climate.

► See also: Merkel, time to take stock: in the Rhineland, the contradictions of environmental policy

This concern for ecology is very present among young Germans.

They say their leaders are not doing enough.

Again on Friday, thousands of Germans mobilized for the climate strike.

Does this infuse into the rest of society?

The sensitivity, it is there, it is clear. There have been a number of recalls. In 2011, we were very struck in Germany by the nuclear accident in Fukushima in Japan which led to the decision to phase out nuclear power. As I said, in the intentions and in the sensitivity, there is this disposition to choose nuclear power. Except that, and this is where we find the same ambiguities in society as in government, and in the actions of the Chancellor herself, there is a kind of paradox: we want to do well and Angela Merkel, as a physicist, even gave very precise figures on how many kilos of CO2 each German inhabitant could, should be allowed to produce in the next 20-30 years. And at the same time,in Brussels, she has always defended tooth and nail the automotive industry, which itself takes quite a long time to implement its project which sets the goal of one million electric cars by 2020. We are very far from it. We have one

automotive industry

that produces large cars that pollute very much.

And people like these cars.

You see, it's this difficulty in combining what you want to do and in reality your life.

And in this political arena, what roles can the Greens play?

In the chessboard, the Greens are a bit of a reminder of bad news. And in particular, during the election campaign,

Annalena Baerbock

, the Greens candidate, said aloud and was heard that it was unimaginable to say that we were going to get out of coal in 2038, because as we came out nuclear, the last power stations stop there, and as we have not yet succeeded in sufficiently developing renewable energies, coal has been developed a lot. And the government, and most of the other parties are saying " 

we're going to have to make this last until 2038 

". So, the Greens tick where it hurts by saying "

 no, no later than 2030, and even rather if we want to respect our international commitments.

 ". And there, we find the same difficulty: people agree, people want to follow and possibly give their voice to the green party on the first and second votes so that it is present in the government, and at the same time people complain that the cost of electricity has risen enormously in Germany because in particular there is a tax of 20% of the price in addition to the normal electricity tax, it is a tax to be able to make the ecological transition with state subsidies All of this is not very transparent and people are not very happy with the result.

► See also: Legislative in Germany: climate protection at the heart of the campaign

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