Update from Berlin #18 | Traffic Laws | Climate Adaption | Electricity Taxation
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In this episode:
- Finalized legislation
- Newly introduced legislation
- Committee hearings
- Federal Fiscal Court
- EU
[Full Script]
Hello and welcome back to our newest episode of ‘Update from Berlin’! My name is Florian von Gierke and I’m looking forward to running through what’s going on in Berlin with you.
First off, in the Bundestag the coalition partners have a whole bunch of bills that are scheduled for their second and third reading, meaning they will – presumably – be passed this week.
For example this includes, measures on strengthening training for care workers, expanding railroads, increasing transparency in hospitals, revamping Germany’s lobbyregister, and Germany’s traffic laws are going to gain some meaningful additions. Let’s briefly look at that last item: For example, here the government wants to allow local governments to more easily reduce the speed limit on certain streets to 30 km per hour vs. the current standard of 50 km per hour. Additionally electric, hydrogen, or high occupancy vehicles could see special lanes increasing the attractiveness of non-combustion engine vehicles or simply of taking somebody along on your way to work.
While this was supposed to be introduced last week, the Government also plans on introducing the Cannabis law this week. Another new item before the parliamentarians this week is the Federal Climate Adaption Act as well as changes to Germany’s Renewable Energy Act.
The opposition parties are also putting forward measures. This includes the CDU/CSU proposing a bill aimed at “not hindering the expansion of electric mobility” or the Left Party pushing for reductions in the price of electricity.
In committee I want to highlight just a couple of hearings: For one the Finance Committee will have a public hearing on the EU Directive on global minimum taxation and the Construction Committee will have hearings on innovations in construction.
With regards to federal courts, people are looking to Munich, specifically to the Federal Fiscal Court. It will hear oral arguments in a case about how to tax electricity that is self-produced and then taken back out of the net for personal use.
In Europe, there will be more than a handful of ministerial Council meetings this week, including a meeting of the Euro group. So I’ll refrain from going into much detail here.
That’s it for this week! Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. Otherwise, as always, leave a like, a comment, and share this video with your friends and colleagues.
