The car crisis dictates the topics in the Baden-Württemberg state election campaign. On Friday, the CDU brought Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the chairman of the EPP parliamentary group, Manfred Weber, and its top candidate Manuel Hagel to Heidelberg to inform about the “end of the combustion engine”. According to Weber, a serious industrial policy mistake by the left-wing majority in the European Parliament has now been corrected. Hagel had already made corresponding demands to the EU at the beginning of 2024, now he wants to savor the success and demonstrate economic competence. At their party conference in Ludwigsburg to adopt the election program, the Greens focused almost exclusively on the topics of economy and innovation. They countered the election campaign announcements from Heidelberg with an appearance by Michael Brecht, chairman of the general works council of Daimler Truck. The Green top candidate Cem Özdemir focused on the topics of the economy, the future of the auto industry, suppliers and innovation policy in his introduction speech for the government program. However, he only addressed the combustion engine ban indirectly: The car industry is experiencing a “huge shock wave”, so it is not sensible to “constantly change course”. He had already spoken out in favor of making the ban on combustion engines more flexible weeks ago, but not for a complete abolition, which will not happen in Brussels either. Global collapse in sales of combustion engines Brecht supported Özdemir, even if he himself is “a socialite”: Making the phase-out of combustion engine technology more flexible is the right thing to do, but at the same time something must and can be done quickly to protect the climate. Daimler offers e-trucks that have a lower payload but a similar range to diesel-powered vehicles. If the operating costs were lower than with diesel technology, the freight forwarders would buy them. He appealed to the Green delegates to advocate for a cheaper electricity price, the expansion of the charging network and a CO2-based toll. Özdemir said: “There is no going back to a supposedly good world. Politics must have a plan, which includes not constantly changing course.” You can build modern electric vehicles in Baden-Württemberg, but you can now “please not have a culture war over cars anymore”. The MEP Michael Bloss later said in his application speech for the party council that the cause of the car industry’s problems were not “European laws” that would take effect in ten years, the reason was that sales of combustion engines had collapsed worldwide. “It will be the election campaign of our lives, it will be the election campaign of my life,” said Özdemir. His speech and the campaign are aimed at, as he himself said, the “progressive middle” and middle-class swing voters. His attacks on the federal government and the CDU were clear: “The central promise from the CDU was not to incur any new debt; my competitor promised a perpetual guarantee for the debt brake. We were honest, the CDU/CSU blatantly lied to the people’s faces.”Now the “Merz method” should not be allowed to prevail in Baden-Württemberg. And further: “The method of promising everything to everyone and spending money as if there were no tomorrow does not suit Baden-Württemberg.” The Greens are the reliable force of the enlightened political center. Özdemir received the strongest applause from the delegates for his announcement that, as Prime Minister, he would replace the American Palantir software with a European solution. In their campaign, the Greens are relying on Özdemir’s popularity. “You know him,” is a new motif in the advertising campaign. It shows Özdemir and Kretschmann. Stability, reliability and continuity should be arguments to convince voters. The sunflower is missing – Özdemir is presented as an almost non-partisan centrist candidate.More on the topicIn the next few months, the Greens want to attack their coalition partner CDU harder and present the team alongside Özdemir more strongly – such as Science Minister Petra Olschowski and Finance Minister Danyal Bayaz. Both candidates represent Özdemir’s central course. Former federal chairwoman Ricarda Lang is also expected to play a larger role in the election campaign; In the university towns, the Greens are under pressure because of their uncritical stance towards Friedrich Merz on the migration issue and because of the housing shortage. Reducing bureaucracy and internal security should also play a larger role. Özdemir wants to appoint experts for this; There should be no shadow cabinet.
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