“His record was three lost years for Germany,” accuses CDU politician Habeck

Is the "autumn of reforms" promised again by Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) during the general debate in the Bundestag on Wednesday coming? In addition to a draft bill on citizen's income, reforms in the health and care sectors have been announced, among other things. These are seen as the prelude to a reform cycle that, according to Merz, will span "autumn, winter, spring, and summer."

Given the disagreements within the CDU/CSU coalition and the parliamentary majority situation, the project will not be easy, as was again demonstrated Wednesday evening in the ARD talk show "Maischberger." In the program, Katharina Dröge, parliamentary group leader of the Green Party, and Gitta Connemann (CDU), State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, discussed the necessary course of action in energy policy. Guest political commentators included presenter Petra Gerster, columnist Hans-Ulrich Jörges, RND journalist Kristina Dunz, and security expert Peter Neumann.

While CDU politician Connemann accused former Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and the previous government of an “uncontrolled expansion of renewables,” Dröge defended her party colleague’s policies and attacked the government’s current line as the “autumn of climate destruction.”

Connemann disagreed: "You haven't tried to lower the electricity tax for three years," she accused Dröge. The result, she said, is that "electricity in Germany is now the most expensive in Europe" and the country is losing competitiveness. "We had an uncontrolled expansion of renewable energies – without a strategy and without backup. We are now changing that by bringing more realism into the energy transition," said the CDU politician.

Dröge countered: "Robert Habeck lowered energy prices again because he secured the supply." Rather, the CDU was responsible for the dependence on Russian energy. A focus on renewable energies is the right path. "If we expand renewables, electricity prices can fall by a quarter," the Green Party politician believes.

The background to the dispute is the plans of Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU). She recently announced a reorientation of the energy transition . The transition away from fossil fuels should be made more efficient and cost-effective without jeopardizing climate goals. Key points include the construction of hydrogen-compatible gas-fired power plants, investments in storage technologies, and the federal subsidy for grid fees.

Dröge sharply criticized Reiche's course: "She's betting on expensive gas. This will lead to rising prices." He also argued that this would jeopardize Germany's security of supply. Connemann countered: "We have a power plant strategy, which, incidentally, is based on a power plant strategy by Robert Habeck, who, of course, recognized that we need to restore security of supply and, for that, we need baseload-capable energy."

The CDU politician described the former economics minister, as well as the "traffic light coalition" as a disastrous record. "His record was three lost years for Germany, three years of recession. There were "high levels of bankruptcies," and in terms of foreign policy, Germany had sunk "into insignificance" and developed into the "bottom of the pack in Europe and the world." "That is not a record that should be forgotten," Connemann demanded.

A second focus of the broadcast was the murder of US activist and Trump confidant Charlie Kirk in Utah last week. Terrorism expert Peter Neumann assessed the situation against the backdrop of the rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe and warned: "The White House makes no secret of its desire to see the AfD in the German government." The White House believes, he said, "that what is happening in America is, so to speak, the vanguard for the entire Western world—that similar 'revolutions' will occur throughout Europe."

Neumann described in three steps how, in his opinion, right-wing populists are undermining democracies: first through polarization and delegitimization of institutions, then through the undermining of the separation of powers, and finally through a massive shift to the right and the restriction of minority rights.

As a counter-strategy, Neumann cited the "firewall" tool. "Democratic parties must not allow these parties to come to power," demanded Neumann, who is also a member of the CDU. At the same time, political solutions are needed: "This problem can only be solved if politicians become capable of taking action again and people realize that something is changing for the better."

The security expert demanded that the federal government concentrate on a few core projects: "irregular migration, citizen's income, Deutsche Bahn." If citizens realize that politics is solving problems in a concrete way, "then things look bad for the populists."