In view of the energy crisis, parts of the CDU are open to a temporary speed limit on motorways. Party Vice President Andreas Jung called for a “power pack for energy security and climate protection” in the “Bild” newspaper (Saturday).
Without bans on thinking, everything that helps over the winter and saves CO2 must go in: “Energy saving pact, nuclear energy, biomass ramp-up and limited speed limit.” The chairman of the climate protection committee, Thomas Gebhart (CDU), told the newspaper: “We can do it ourselves cannot at all afford to reject certain options from the outset for partisan reasons. For me, that also means: a temporary speed limit of 130 on motorways.”
The Greens traffic expert Stefan Gelbhaar welcomed the debate in the CDU on the speed limit, which was overdue. “So far, however, the Union has blocked every proposal for a speed limit in the transport committee, but at the latest in the Bundesrat,” he told the German Press Agency on Saturday. The Union should prove its seriousness here.
The CDU politician Jung said on Deutschlandfunk on Friday: “Personally, in this situation I would also be open to a limited speed limit of 130 km/h on motorways. But this now requires an initiative from the federal government. It needs the Federal Chancellor.” He would be willing to promote it in his party.
When asked about the attitude of the Union faction, he said: “We’re coming from somewhere else.” But if an emergency is looming and the Chancellor collects all social forces, “then I think we should also be ready to take such a step”.
A general speed limit has been the subject of bitter arguments for years. As a result of the Ukraine war, it has now come back into focus – as a possible contribution to saving energy. In the traffic light coalition, the FDP is opposed to such a limit, which it had already rejected in the coalition negotiations.
