The dispute in the coalition about the future of the internal combustion engine in the EU shows how little a coalition agreement is good for.
There, the SPD, Greens and FDP assert that after 2035 only “CO2-neutral vehicles” should be allowed.
The traffic light agrees that this also means engines that are operated with synthetic fuel (e-fuels).
But what are "vehicles" - racing cars, tractors, excavators and also cars?
Environment Minister Steffi Lemke described it as a compromise that this meant vehicles "outside the range of fleet standards" - i.e. no cars.
The FDP sees things very differently, both in terms of vehicles and what compromise means.
FDP versus SPD and Greens
For the liberals, the topic is suitable for profiling.
In the dispute over the combustion engine, two schools are clashing: the SPD and the Greens, who traditionally tend to credit the state with more intelligence than engineers and entrepreneurs, and the FDP, which usually sees it the other way around.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has now sided with the FDP against the Green Minister.
In the distant future, "cars" that run on e-fuels should also be allowed, he said at Schloss Elmau.
This was apparently sorely needed for the coalition peace.
But can Scholz prevail against the Greens?
After all, Lemke has already managed to call Robert Habeck back on nuclear power.