On August 3rd, Minister President Anke Rehlinger will have been in office for 100 days. From the perspective of the Greens in Saarland, several important decisions were missed during this time. In particular, the Green state association would have wished for a different prioritization from the Minister President in education, economic policy, and the energy transition.
The introduction of G9 must be better prepared and planned. The planned 178 annual weekly hours are below the national average of 184. "Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity of an additional year until the Abitur, budget cuts were made here," according to the assessment of the Green Party chairwoman Uta Sullenberger. It is especially important for the Greens that the comprehensive school does not suffer under the state government's G9 plans. "At least the same additional resources must be provided for the comprehensive school as for the introduction of the nine-year Gymnasium," says Uta Sullenberger. The Greens are completely baffled that, although school social work has rightly become a mandatory task, the counties as carriers are left to deal with this task alone by the state. Overall, they demand that the state government rely less on prestigious quick fixes in education and instead implement a long-term, well-planned education policy. The focus must be on the quality of education and equal opportunities.
In economic policy, the Green Party misses impulses from the state government. "Saarland has many innovation beacons to offer. Ironically, the 10-point plan for Ford contains none of these beacons. Instead, Anke Rehlinger has fallen back into her reflexes from her time as Minister of Economic Affairs and calls on the federal government and the company to deliver concepts," says the opinion of the Green Party chairman Dr. Ralph Nonninger. He suggests focusing land policy and technology transfer specifically on medium-sized companies from future industries. "We still have many economically strong, innovative companies with growth potential in Saarland. If these opportunities become known, more companies will settle here," according to Dr. Ralph Nonninger's assessment. The Greens see great potential in digital technologies and topics such as the energy transition and energy efficiency as well as future materials. Additional potential for Saarland is also opened up by companies around the topic of health care.
From the perspective of the Greens, the approach of the state government to climate protection and the energy transition is too vague. The long planning period requires swift action here. Early involvement of citizens is necessary. “The Prime Minister has now visited several citizen energy projects in Saarland. She should have realized the importance of an open dialogue on climate protection and the energy transition,” reminds Uta Sullenberger. “If Anke Rehlinger is only now commissioning ministries to draft a climate protection plan by the end of the year, it means at least one lost year because acceptance is missing. Saarland cannot afford that,” Uta Sullenberger continues. From the Greens' point of view, at least the key data for a Saarland climate protection concept must now be brought into the public discussion process. This increases the chance of gaining broad societal acceptance for its implementation.
From the perspective of Uta Sullenberger and Dr. Ralph Nonninger, the Prime Minister is striving to achieve an improvement in public transport. "Anke Rehlinger should know what really matters in transport policy. She has the appropriate contacts both with transport companies and the federal government. However, facts must now follow," says Uta Sullenberger. The Greens particularly consider a successor arrangement to the 9-euro ticket a sensible measure to accelerate the transport transition. Dr. Ralph Nonninger therefore appeals: "It is important that Anke Rehlinger now takes budgetary precautions so that she can implement at least one of her central election promises, a 365-euro ticket, by next year at the latest, preferably in autumn."
