DThe FDP has rejected allegations of alleged influence by the car manufacturer Porsche on party leader Christian Lindner on the question of the future of combustion engines during the coalition negotiations. Lindner’s position on the further use of synthetic fuels (e-fuels) has been “known for years,” the party said on Saturday. During the coalition negotiations in October, there was “only a short phone call” between the later Federal Minister of Finance and Porsche boss Oliver Blume “on questions about the use of e-fuels”.
The ZDF satirical magazine “Die Anstalt” published quotes from Blume from a works meeting in June this week. Blume, who will become head of the Volkswagen Group on September 1, is said to have said that Porsche played a “very large part” in the further use of synthetically produced e-fuels for combustion engines being included in the coalition agreement. Lindner “kept him up to date almost every hour”.
A spokesman for Porsche AG expressed the company’s regret to the “Welt am Sonntag” newspaper. “During an internal event in June, exaggerated formulations were made, for which we apologize,” he told the newspaper. “The choice of words does not correspond to the facts. The exchange did not take place in this way and there was no influence.” Lindner “also phoned the heads of vehicle manufacturers who do not support e-fuels,” said an FDP spokesman. “As far as we know, the companies have also held such talks with the negotiators of the coalition partners. In view of the importance of the German automotive industry, on whose future the jobs of millions of employees depend directly and indirectly, this is also correct.”
However, the Left Party warned of a threat to democracy. “It cannot be that the Porsche boss was apparently better informed about the status of the coalition negotiations than the rest of the population,” said the parliamentary director of the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Jan Korte, of the “Welt am Sonntag”. “That would further undermine democracy.” The matter has “at least one ‘taste'”. In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP had backed the plans of the EU Commission, “in the transport sector in Europe 2035 only CO2-neutral Vehicles”. Combustion engines that are operated with synthetic fuels should be excluded. The “traffic light” is therefore committed to “that verifiably only vehicles that can be refueled with e-fuels can be newly registered”.
