In times of war and crisis, politics should focus on social justice and ecological responsibility to secure peace and democracy, says a new position paper published by BUND/ Friends of the Earth Germany and Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband, a social welfare union.
The organisations state that, as German citizens, they are “utterly ashamed” to co-finance the war against Ukraine via energy imports. According to them, politicians obstructing the transition to renewable energies have led the way for fossil and nuclear power to become strategic means of war. They accuse the German government of knee-jerk reactions ignorant of societal and ecological realities and ask for future-proof politics which seek peace, social justice and a healthy planet.
Among their demands to the German government are:
- Measures to reduce energy consumption – particularly in transport and buildings
- A transition to ecological, extensive agriculture
- Increased funding of the World Food Programme
- Measures against poverty such as increasing social benefits
- An improved infrastructure to receive and protect refugees
- Investment in development cooperation
To finance these measures, the organisations propose to remove debt brakes and increase taxes on wealth.
Read the position paper and BUND’s demands in detail (in German).
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