When the traffic light coalition set out last fall, the headlines couldn't be big enough.

One wondered how the country could have been governed by other coalitions at all.

In mid-October, FDP chairman Christian Lindner raved about a "watershed in Germany's political culture."

“The scope of possibilities has expanded”.

The Greens chairman Robert Habeck expressed the hope that "great things could be achieved".

The soon-to-be Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the atmosphere of the talks in the traffic light format "beneficial".

Departure is possible.

Helen Bubrowski

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Johannes Leithauser

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Eckhart Lohse

Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.

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Five months later, that sounds a little different.

The finance minister's latest initiative made the petrol barrel overflow in the Reds and Greens.

The SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich said in public on Tuesday about Lindner's idea of ​​a tank discount: "I would have liked the Federal Minister of Finance to come up with a coordinated proposal together with us in the coalition and in the federal government."

It is therefore good that it has now been agreed that a "comprehensive package" to relieve people of the high energy prices will be launched with three participants from each of the three traffic light parties.

That would then "not be freehand, but that would be resilient and concentrated," said the SPD parliamentary group leader, who does not tend to publicly attack his political partner.

A day later, the parliamentary secretary of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, followed up and said it was important that the coalition partners continue the "good mode" they had found.

The finance minister's "free hand" statements "may not be the best example".

The anger in the Greens is pretty big

Not only the Social Democrats were angry with Lindner.

Economics Ministers Habeck and Lindner have actually found a common ground.

They've been on first-name terms for a long time and like to tease each other a bit.

When Habeck was asked about Lindner's tank discount on Sunday evening on the program "Anne Will", he was serious.

Appropriate measures would always have to include three points: they would have to take various energy sources into account, be linked to efficiency measures and send a market-based signal to consume less energy.

In Lindner's proposal, all three points "are not yet shown," said Habeck.

"In this respect, you can do it a bit better." That's the polite form of what other Greens say in background talks.

The anger is quite big, not only about the content but also about the form.

Little is left of the agreement to first talk to each other and then to the media.

The Greens found out about Lindner's idea from the newspaper.

So that he does not determine the debate alone, they have thrown their own idea into the room: the energy money, with which the Greens had already campaigned.

To relieve all citizens should receive the same amount.

Because people with less money often use less energy, the Greens consider the idea to be particularly social.

The SPD also emphasizes that when it comes to the necessary relief, those who depend on social support must be considered.

The old fear clearly shines through that the FDP might not take this into account enough.