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This largely coincides with the Green Party's rise in popularity. Sadly it seems they have no real plan, only ideology. IMO this is why they've prioritised shut

This largely coincides with the Green Party's rise in popularity. Sadly it seems they have no real plan, only ideology. IMO this is why they've prioritised shutting down nuclear power over coal power, because demonstrating against nuclear power is almost required to be a member, but sensible policies are not. I don't think you can blame Merkel, she doesn't really have a hard stance on most topics - if anything, the opposite is true, and her position on many things is vague or pragmatic. It seems to me that the popularity of Martin Schulz and the AfD are a direct response to that.

hannob 9y ago
> This largely coincides with the Green Party's rise in popularity. The green party could probably profit much more from those topics if one had the feeling they'd be more trustworthy in those issues. Particularly in the diesel emissions scandal the greens are a big failure - the reason being that the greens form the government in southwest Germany (Baden Württemberg), which has a strong car industry.
- guitarbill 9y ago
  I'm from Baden Württemberg, and I'm not sure how strong the car industry is any more. For example, every year a bit more autobahn has a speed restriction applied to it. I think you're spot on though. The diesel emissions scandal is made worse by the fact that diesel was promoted in the EU because the CO2 emissions tend to be lower than petrol. This is reflected by diesel vs petrol prices in France or Germany (diesel was/is? cheaper per 100km), compared to the UK where diesel wasn't as popular.
  - wink 9y ago
    Where do you get this rise from? 2009 - 10.7% 2013 - 8.4% 2017 - 8-10% (projections) Only B-W has a ruling Green Party, I'd they they're still mostly at 10% everywhere else.
    - qznc 9y ago
      Living in Baden-Württemberg is probably the reason. Green is the strongest party there (2016 30%). They are ahead of CDU (Merkels party) for two periods now.
      - wink 9y ago
        Yes, that's why I claim it's a local thing :)
        guitarbill 9y ago
        Fair enough, the point I was trying to make is that it's more than just Merkel + some lobbying, and that this article is badly written and mostly rubbish.
  - pgeorgi 9y ago
    Not sure about the situation in France, but in Germany the diesel/petrol difference is much older than any CO2 concerns. Here, Diesel is taxed less than petrol, originally as a measure to support agriculture (who traditionally use Diesel engines on the field). There's a slightly higher tax on the car itself with a Diesel engine. Together this makes Diesel cheaper if you're using your car _a lot_, and so vehicle fleets (corporate, car rental, ...) are all Diesel based. That's hard to roll back politically (since it's cutting into expensive investments of huge organisations).
cygx 9y ago
the popularity of Martin Schulz That's a good one!

hannob 9y ago

> This largely coincides with the Green Party's rise in popularity. The green party could probably profit much more from those topics if one had the feeling they'd be more trustworthy in those issues. Particularly in the diesel emissions scandal the greens are a big failure - the reason being that the greens form the government in southwest Germany (Baden Württemberg), which has a strong car industry.

guitarbill 9y ago
I'm from Baden Württemberg, and I'm not sure how strong the car industry is any more. For example, every year a bit more autobahn has a speed restriction applied to it. I think you're spot on though. The diesel emissions scandal is made worse by the fact that diesel was promoted in the EU because the CO2 emissions tend to be lower than petrol. This is reflected by diesel vs petrol prices in France or Germany (diesel was/is? cheaper per 100km), compared to the UK where diesel wasn't as popular.
- wink 9y ago
  Where do you get this rise from? 2009 - 10.7% 2013 - 8.4% 2017 - 8-10% (projections) Only B-W has a ruling Green Party, I'd they they're still mostly at 10% everywhere else.
  - qznc 9y ago
    Living in Baden-Württemberg is probably the reason. Green is the strongest party there (2016 30%). They are ahead of CDU (Merkels party) for two periods now.
    - wink 9y ago
      Yes, that's why I claim it's a local thing :)
      - guitarbill 9y ago
        Fair enough, the point I was trying to make is that it's more than just Merkel + some lobbying, and that this article is badly written and mostly rubbish.
- pgeorgi 9y ago
  Not sure about the situation in France, but in Germany the diesel/petrol difference is much older than any CO2 concerns. Here, Diesel is taxed less than petrol, originally as a measure to support agriculture (who traditionally use Diesel engines on the field). There's a slightly higher tax on the car itself with a Diesel engine. Together this makes Diesel cheaper if you're using your car _a lot_, and so vehicle fleets (corporate, car rental, ...) are all Diesel based. That's hard to roll back politically (since it's cutting into expensive investments of huge organisations).

cygx 9y ago

the popularity of Martin Schulz That's a good one!