After this EU election wrapped up.....there is a bit of speculation going on that the Chancellor basically needs to resolve some major issues, or retire to allow new people to figure out the mess approaching.
First, within the SPD Party (the junior coalition partner), things are falling apart. Various senior leaders of the party believe that they are floundering and need a massive change to leadership. But there's fear that whoever they pick from this dozen-odd possibilities....it'll just progress onto the next problem.
Second, this carbon tax business is now lined up to be a major burden. The Environmental Ministry (led by a SPD Party member), has now announced (after the election) that they are moving ahead without the agreement of the CDU-partner. This violates some agreed-upon standards and typically, it'd be enough to dissolve this coalition. But if you do that....the two options left are a partnership with the Greens (gets you the same carbon tax), or a new national election (something that the SPD would like to avoid at all costs).
What is this carbon tax deal? Merkel agreed to allow a 2030 carbon usage 'limit' for Germans. Everything....that includes cars, power production, groceries, pavements, motorcycles, etc....that produces carbon would have a tax allocated. You would be paying into some pot, for excessive use of carbon.
Naturally, you'd ask.....all this revenue going into a pot, it'd have to be massive (some people suggest five to ten billion a year)....what becomes of this money? Well....the Finance Minister wants it to be 'gift' money....that he'd dispense it for social programs and wonderful public projects. Some examples are the use of this pot to pay for full use of railways and buses....so it'd all be free of charge.
Has the public understood that hundreds of Euro per year.....would fall out of their pocket, and into this carbon tax gimmick? No. You can ask most Germans to explain this and they know very little.
Are other EU members going down this path? In France, it's being discussed. To a lesser degree in the other 26 EU states.
Shouldn't it be a EU or nothing situation? Well, think about this. You are impacting the German economy in a massive and negative way. You are taking a minimum of 500 Euro a year (maybe even on up to 1,500 Euro) from each person, for their carbon 'woes'. Even if you gifted them a travel-free deal on trains and buses.....the vast majority will still own cars, and the bulk will still drive to work. So the gift really isn't that appreciated. In return, won't the economy falter and go into recession? Yep, that's pretty much what this carbon tax is designed to do.
As one CDU member described the folks supporting this idea....they are on some religion-cult-like chatter, and aren't thinking about the nation itself.
Imagine buying an airline ticket today for 500 Euro and discovering in eight months that the same airline ticket is now 580 Euro. Imagine going to pay your yearly car registration 'fee' of 85 Euro, and having the old clerk tell you that it went to 145 Euro because you consume too much carbon. The McDonalds Menu number four dinner that you normally pay 9.95 Euro? Well, it's be pushed upward to 11.95 Euro.
You might even reach the stage of finding that your dream vacation to New Zealand costs 28-percent more because of the carbon tax....if you leave from Frankfurt. But then you ask about leaving from Prague, and find that there is no carbon tax there, and the price is more reasonable.....so you waste an entire day driving to Prague....to fly out and save that 28-percent.
All of this is drawing Germany closer to a angry and frustrated situation....with people more divided than ever, and the Chancellor really isn't capable of bringing 'happiness' to the situation.
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