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Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 5/98 GERMAN GREEN PARTY IDEAS ARE DISASTRUOUS by Norbert Burgner Fly to the coasts - but only every five years. The Green Party has spoken up again, this time it was the "Tourism-Expert", Halo Saibold. Kerosin should be taxed like petrol, in order to give holidaymakers an incentive to use trains, coaches and bicycles. Germany is obviously intended to lead the way in doing so. To realise Mrs. Saibolds's suggestion would put up the price for kerosene four fold. This means a rise in operating costs, which would almost ruin German airlines and increase the price for air tickets to a level, where many German employees were in fact faced with a travel prohibition. And we thought these times had been over since 1990. According to the "traffic expert" it will be sufficient, if the Germans travel by plane to their holiday destination not every year but only every five years: "This is justifiable to protect our environment." It is baffling to hear an undemocratic demand like this one from the allegedly most democratic of parties. Maybe it is some indication of what we are to expect after a possible change of government in autumn. One has to hand it to the politicians belonging to the Alliance 90/The Green Party: at least they are honest. However, this straightness has as little in common with subtle mass psychology as the eternal dream of horse and cart ecology with the rising pressures on efficiency of our economic reality. It is a fact that such measures would withdraw any ability to compete from the German airlines and the whole of the national aviation infrastructure the basis of its livelihood. Tourism, which has been targeted by Mrs. Saidlod, is with 500 billion passengers per year the world's biggest economic sector. 130,000 people are employed on Germany's airports. Between 700,000 and one million jobs depend on this sector with its further economic and service factors like the airlines, plane manufactures, air-traffic control and general aviation in Germany. Over the next ten years alone 100,000 new jobs will be created at German airports. If Saibold's plans were carried out most of the named jobs would be threatened in one fair sweep. This cannot be the solution. Dr. Norbert Lammert, the German Secretary of State and Co-ordinator for German Aviation and Space Industry, thinks through better. In his paper on development perspectives for Germany's Aviation, which was published in the middle of March, he came up with solutions to protect the environment, but not exclude competition. He demanded more play between European airports for constructive competition through privatisation, stronger co-operation among German airports, which will lead to better utilisation of capacities without losing independence, interlinking of air traffic with the German railway system by linking airports to local, national and international trainsystems. In doing so both means of transport would become more attractive. With short haul traffic to be transferred from air to railway the airports could experience the wanted reduction in slot-congestion. Beyond, the German Government also is thinking about taxing kerosene. However, there is a difference to the Green Party's demands. The suggestion is to give up non-taxation internationally. If it came to this, at least this would create the same conditions for everyone, and would serve as a basis for further developments for all. Ecology yes, eco-dictatorship no thank you. From page 4 of FLUG REVUE 5/98 Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 5/98 Copyright 1998 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated April 7, 1998 FLUG REVUE, Ubierstr. 83, 53173 Bonn, Germany