In the coalition dispute over the heating law, Bundestag Vice-President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) has complained of a lack of support from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). "It's hard for me to recognize a climate chancellor," she told the newspapers of the Funke media group. And she added: "When you initiate such a large-scale project as a government, you have to support it together. Unfortunately, we are a long way from that at the traffic lights."

Scholz should "not make it easy" for himself: "This is not a special topic of Robert Habeck or the Alliance Greens. This may harm us as a party or the vice-chancellor at the moment, but otherwise it will be at the expense of everyone, even in the near future."

"No one should be forced to sell their house"

The Green politician warned against a postponement of the heating law, but called for corrections to the bill. For example, there must be a subsidy for the installation of climate-friendly heating system, staggered according to income.

"No one should be forced to sell their house. And there must be no major burdens for tenants either," said Göring-Eckardt. "That's why we want to subsidize the new heating system up to 80 percent - and not only a maximum of 50 percent as envisaged in the current draft."

The Green politician rejected further exceptions to the exchange obligation. "I think it's better to work with higher funding for those who need it than with other exceptions," Göring-Eckardt said.

The chairwoman of the so-called economic wise men, Monika Schnitzer, also spoke out in favour of improvements. It is important "that people with lower incomes are not overwhelmed. At the same time, the support measures should be targeted, because people with higher incomes do not need support," she told the Funke newspapers.

Schnitzer also quickly called for clarity about the exact regulations. "It doesn't depend on the exact month as the start date, but on the fact that it will soon be binding," she said. "Then everyone can adapt to this and build up the necessary capacities in good time: the trades and the suppliers of heating systems."

Scholz reacts calmly

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, however, said he did not believe in major changes to the heating law now being discussed. The parliamentary groups of the SPD, Greens and FDP tapped the law for unanswered questions, Scholz said on Sunday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima in a ZDF interview. However, many legitimate concerns and concerns have already been dispelled. "However, I don't think there will be any major changes at the core," he said.

The SPD politician made a similar statement in an interview with RTL/ntv. There, the Federal Chancellor also stressed that many precautions had been taken so that "a great many different technologies could be used".

The government's plans stipulate that oil and gas heating systems may only be installed in exceptional cases from 2024. New heating systems should then be operated with at least 65 percent renewable energies "as far as possible". Classic gas and oil heating systems can only achieve this if they are operated in combination with a heat pump, for example. However, there are numerous exemptions.