Support for Germany’s SPD-FDP-Green coalition is low. Commentators are linking the government’s new heating law to a recent rise in support for the far-right AfD.

RTL barometer reveals dissatisfaction with German government

According to a barometer created by the German broadcasters RTL and ntv, three-quarters of voters in Germany are not currently happy with the German government.

77 percent of respondents said that they are little satisfied or totally unsatisfied with current government policies. This figure included people who were supporters of the three parties that make up the coalition government, with 52 percent of SPD supporters, 55 percent of Green voters and 71 percent of FDP voters saying they were dissatisfied with their party.

Voters see heating law debacle as chaotic

The German government’s attempts to pass a new heating law, which has been a hot topic since Greens Minister Robert Habeck announced a plan to accelerate the country’s switch to renewable energy, was cited by respondents as the main reason they were dissatisfied with the coalition.

Back in March, Habeck announced that Germany would ban the installation of heating systems that use gas and oil by 2024, after which the systems would be replaced with new heat pumps that use at least 65 percent wind and solar energy. Since then, coalition infighting has meant the Building Energy Law or “Heizungsgesetz” has been considerably watered down.

Homeowners and landlords will be required to instal low-emission heating systems like heat pumps and solar energy by 2045 at the latest. In a later redraft of the law, it was appended that property owners will be able to repair existing and instal new, oil and gas systems until 2028. By 2029, the new low-emission systems will need to be run on a minimum of just 15 percent, 30 percent by 2035 and 60 percent by 2040. Though they will have to pay, government subsidies of a yet-undisclosed amount will help them cover the cost, which many are likely to pass on to renters anyway.

Haphazard Heizungsgesetz causes AfD to rise in the polls?

The original and simpler version of Habeck’s Heizungsgesetz was praised by those concerned about the increasingly palpable effects of climate change in Germany. Though critics point out that the goal of nationwide climate neutrality by 2045 is not in line with the Paris Agreement to keep global temperatures below 1,5 degrees, the policy was praised as a step in the right direction. Now, the only thing that is clear to most onlookers -  proclaimed environmentalist or otherwise - is that Habeck’s Heizungesetz has all become highly confusing.

This confusion and lack of communication with the public about changes to the law have been cited as an explanation for increased support for Germany’s far-right AfD party in recent weeks. The populist party dubbed the new law a “slap in the face for all hardworking people” a position which the German newspaper nd labelled as the AfD “sucking its brown nectar from the crisis”. 

The election of Robert Sesselman in Thuringia, marking the AfD’s first win in a district council election, and the fact that the party is now polling as the second most popular in the country have been widely reported as unintended knock-on effects of the coalition’s haphazard Heizungsgesetz. 

Thumb image credit: Juergen Nowak / Shutterstock.com