The World Briefly
July 07, 2023No Rush, Please
Germany
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Germany’s coalition government announced it will delay the vote on a contentious energy bill, a day after the country’s top court shot down plans to push the draft law through parliament this week, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
Lawmakers of the ruling three-party coalition said Thursday they will seek to have the vote in early September when the legislature’s next regular session is scheduled.
The government hoped to pass a bill that would call for the installation of new heating systems that can be at least 65 percent powered by renewable energy. But the Federal Constitutional Court halted the vote Wednesday, granting an injunction requested by a conservative opposition lawmaker who contended that the lack of sufficient time for thorough deliberation would infringe upon his rights.
The ruling denied the chance to move quickly on the bill, which had been a source of conflict for members of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition.
His two coalition partners, the environmentalist Greens and pro-business Free Democrats, spent months publicly arguing about details of the draft law, before emerging in mid-June with a bare-bones compromise over plans to replace old fossil-fuel heating systems with alternatives such as heat pumps.
The bill based on the compromise was finalized just last week, causing opposition lawmakers to express anger at the coalition’s rush to pass it before the summer break, as initially intended.
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