German “greens” are paying with a rating for the ban on heating houses with oil and gas

The rating of the Green Party in Germany fell to 15% (-1 percentage points compared to the previous week) against the background of the proposal of the head of the Ministry of Economy of Germany, Robert Habek, to ban heating with oil and gas by 2045, the Bild newspaper reported on Sunday, March 19 am Sonntag.

The office of the Vice-Chancellor, representing the Greens, developed the corresponding bill in early March. According to media reports, the document provides for a ban on oil and gas heating by 2045, while from 2024 the German authorities intend to allow citizens to install only those heating systems that generate heat. “at least 65% from renewable energy sources”.

The initiative notes that already installed oil or gas heating systems, if the law is passed, can be used for no more than 30 years. After this period, operation will be prohibited. According to the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, about 30 million German families currently use such heating systems.

“For millions of citizens, the plan of the head of the Ministry of Economy Khabek will be extremely expensive. They will have to switch to district heating, heat pumps and biomass boilers.” – notes the publication.

At the same time, the question of the legitimacy of the aspirations of the Green Party remains open.

“The planned ban on oil and gas heating is an unconstitutional restriction on basic property rights,” – said Volker, Professor of the Department of Constitutional Law at the University of Oldenburg Boehme-Nesslercommenting on the bill in an interview with Der Spiegel.

“A ban policy should be a last resort (in the fight against CO2 emissions) when nothing else helps,” — the expert continued, noting that in Germany there is a market mechanism for trading in quotas for greenhouse gas emissions.

Thus, the legislator has already created incentives to install heating systems that produce fewer pollutants – without completely banning their use.

Representatives of the opposition, in particular the representative of the CDU / CSU faction, also sharply criticized Khabek. Günther Kringswho called the proposed ban “too much”.

“The planned ban on gas and oil heating is completely redundant and will effectively limit the rights of many homeowners – we must not allow this to happen,” he stated.

According to Bild am Sonntag, if a quarter of the Bundestag deputies consider the future law unconstitutional, they will be able to get it considered in the Federal Constitutional Court for compliance with the Basic Law of Germany. Given the wide public outcry that arose against the background of the consideration of the initiative, the likelihood of such a scenario is extremely high.

Thus, at the moment, the head of the Ministry of Economy has only succeeded in undermining the trust of voters in the Green Party. At the same time, the Alternative for Germany party managed to improve its performance by a similar percentage point, thus gaining 16% of potential votes and displacing the Greens from third place.

“For the first time since 2018, Alternative for Germany again outstrips its opponents from the Greens in terms of support”, – emphasized against this background the publication Bild, commissioned by which the study was conducted.

In first place is the opposition CDU/CSU bloc with 28% of the vote. If elections to the Bundestag were held this Sunday, the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) would be supported by only 21% of the population.