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Germany’s CDU party attempts to break resistance at state level

02. May 2012 By:  Karl-Heinz Remmers

More or less behind the scenes, a further strange phenomenon involving the pending decision by the Upper House of the German Federal Parliament with regard to the Renewable Energy Act amendment on May 11, 2012, is in the making: The national CDU party is doing everything possible in order to get CDU-governed (or co-governed) federal states to vote against invoking a mediation committee.

Apart from the customary backroom meetings or calls, various CDU politicians at the national level have dropped their guard directly and are lambasting their colleagues at the state level for their commitment to saving industrial solar structures, painstakingly developed precisely in the eastern part of Germany. Their choice of words in doing so is not very diplomatic and, thus, it becomes clear that federalism in Germany is to be undermined – precisely in such cases.

"We can’t backstab Röttgen," is the official cry, but unofficially the enemies of the solar industry in the German federal government couldn’t care less about the numerous jobs and the large amounts of money (from the various federal states, among other things) invested in the different regions.

It also remains to be seen whether the various federal states will punish their own region for the sake of party discipline, in order to provide the enemies of the solar industry with a presumed victory.

However, all hope is not lost – there are still several possibilities. In this regard, I quote my colleague, freelance author and consultant, Thomas Seltmann:

1. On May 11, there will not be a majority in the Upper House of the German Federal Parliament for refusal of the law and invoking the mediation committee between the Upper and Lower Houses of the German Federal Parliament. The law will enter into force retroactively.

2. There will be a majority against the law in the Upper House of Parliament for a mediation committee. The Upper House of Parliament then accepts the results from the mediation committee with a simple majority. They are rejected again by a simple majority (government coalition) in the Lower House of the German Federal Parliament. The law will enter into force retroactively.

3. A two-thirds majority in the Upper House of the German Federal Parliament accepts the results of the mediation committee in the Upper House of Parliament. A two-thirds majority in the Lower House of Parliament would have to oppose this vote; this, however, does not happen. The law does not enter into force.

4. A simple majority is against the law in the Upper House of Parliament, but before the Lower House of Parliament can reject this resolution, it is dissolved; for example, because the government implodes following defeats at the polls in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia (if I were Ms. Merkel, I would even aim for such a result – there will probably be no better election prospects for a coalition government led by the CDU in the foreseeable future, as long as the Pirate Party continues to steal votes from the Green Party, the Left Party and the SPD ...). The legislative process is not completed and thus the law does not enter into force.

So for the moment things stand fifty-fifty.

Thus dear readers, please continue your local efforts to stop the law to abandon solar energy. The chances are there.