"FDP plays opposition in its own government"

WORLD: Mr. Goldschmidt, first the Greens are massively committed to skimming off excess profits. Now that is exactly what is to come – and you, as the Green Environment Minister, promptly warn of the possible negative consequences of such state skimming off of chance profits. Can you explain the contradiction?

Tobias Goldschmidt: I see no contradiction at all. I think the levy is correct in principle. This is an act of solidarity. The energy industry made a lot of money during the crisis, so it should share in the costs of this crisis.

WORLD: But?

Goldschmidt: What I criticize is the way in which the federal government wants to involve business. It leads to great uncertainty among companies.

Take the operators of biogas plants, for example, who have significantly higher production costs than other energy producers - they would be significantly burdened by the planned levy and are therefore already unsure why they are not exempt from this as is the case for hard coal-fired power plants. And uncertainty is poison for companies that should invest in renewables so that the energy transition can actually succeed.

WORLD: What exactly are you criticizing?

Goldschmidt: One of the plans is to raise the levy retrospectively. This means that you want to take something away from companies that have planned on a different legal basis. This is a breach of trust that we have refrained from doing in the past, and with good reason. In addition, there is the considerable bureaucratic effort that would be associated with a sales-related tax.

WORLD: What would your proposal for skimming off the random profits look like?

Goldschmidt: To this day, I still don't understand why we choose this complicated path of a sales-based tax that may have to be paid retrospectively - and not simply tax the additional profits that have accrued. That would be much less bureaucratic.

A downstream skimming mechanism is supposed to apply to the random profits of oil and gas companies. Then why not for electricity?

WORLD: That would correspond pretty much exactly to the ideas of the Federal Association of Renewable Energies. What influence does this lobbying association have on politics?

Goldschmidt: Lobby groups always exert influence by providing information. The Federal Association for Renewable Energy is no different from other sectors in this regard.

WORLD: Chairwoman of the Federal Association of Renewable Energies is the former Green Party leader Simone Peter. For example, if a former CDU chairman had switched to chairing the German Atomic Forum after his term in office, how outraged would the Greens have been?

Goldschmidt: Probably big in parts of our party. But advocacy is advocacy - and I think that's legitimate. A morally acidic look would not be helpful in either case.

WORLD: In your opinion, is it correct to evaluate different types of energy differently, as provided for in the federal government’s tax plans?

Goldschmidt: That certainly makes sense. Wind energy, for example, causes almost no operating costs. A biogas plant, on the other hand, has high operating costs, which rose sharply again during the crisis. Legislation has to take that into account.

WORLD: How high is the probability that at the end of this legislative process there will be a result that proves to be as unrealistic as the gas surcharge?

Goldschmidt: We can't afford another dance like that. It is therefore good and right to reconsider the procedure again. This shot has to be right.

For example, I don't understand why we don't separate the legislation on the electricity and gas price brake and the legislation on the skimming off of chance profits. The time pressure is mainly in the two price brakes. We can take more time with the skimming - to then get it done technically properly.

WORLD: Do you have the feeling that the traffic light parties in Berlin are doing a good job - or are the three parties more in each other's way?

Goldschmidt: The traffic light coalition has gotten us through the crisis quite well so far. However, she also leaves a lot of strength to deal with herself. This power would have been better channeled into concrete politics. That hurts a bit, especially since I was present at the coalition negotiations myself and had high hopes for this coalition.

WORLD: Which hopes have not been fulfilled?

Goldschmidt: When we negotiated the treaty, it was a coalition of new beginnings, including the unleashing of market forces towards climate neutrality. In the meantime, the traffic light is a coalition that is trying to get through the crisis to some extent - and is blocking each other in one place or another. The FDP plays opposition in their own government. That's a pity.

WORLD: So are you glad that the FDP no longer gets in your way when governing in Schleswig-Holstein?

Goldschmidt: I really like our black and green model. Cooperation with the CDU ministries is excellent. We deal with the matter and have the breadth of society in mind.

WORLD: Another topic that is on your mind right now is the construction of an LNG infrastructure. You were strictly against that, right?

Goldschmidt: I wasn't an LNG fan for climate policy reasons. But I'm also not a fan of bitter medicine and sometimes I have to take it anyway. Europe is in an energy war, prices are skyrocketing, people worry if we don't have enough gas to heat our homes.

And so import terminals are now correct for geostrategic reasons. They make our country safer in the short term. In the medium term, they must and can be replaced by renewable energies.

WORLD: Schleswig-Holstein is currently building the facilities for a floating LNG terminal in Brunsbüttel. When will this be operational?

Goldschmidt: The ship will moor in mid-December. The connection line to the existing gas network is almost complete. Operations will start at the end of the year.

WORLD: Are you still overtaking Lower Saxony, who actually want to be the first to be ready to go in Wilhelmshaven?

Goldschmidt: It's a neck-and-neck race. But we are North German left.

WORLD: Environmentalists are very concerned that too many biocides will get into the North Sea via the floating terminals. Do you share this concern?

Goldschmidt: My colleague in Lower Saxony assured me that all limit values ​​are observed in Wilhelmshaven. Here in Brunsbüttel, a different cleaning system will be used that does not use biocides. If some are needed, we have the assurance from the operator that the pollutants would not get into the Elbe.

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