Tesla Shows Germany it Needs a Change: Laschet Requires Package to Accelerate Planning of Large Projects

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After meeting with Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Giga Berlin, German Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet has announced that he wants to launch a package to accelerate the planning of large projects after his election victory. The Californian manufacturer has cleverly pointed out vulnerable spots that could rob the country of major investment and sustainable development projects.

In the process of approving and building Giga Berlin, Tesla faced a number of obstacles that delayed the start of production. The company shared its thoughts with the authorities on ways to improve upon and eliminate delays in the approval process of such construction. After that, a number of politicians supported Tesla's ideas and expressed their support for reforms that should speed up the approval of large projects.

During Musk's last visit to Germany in mid-August, he met with the German Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet at Giga Berlin. During the conversation, Laschet also called for an expedited approval process. Now the politician is continuing to discuss this initiative. After winning the elections, Laschet wants to launch a planning acceleration package to promote major economic projects, said CDU chairman on August 21. To maintain growth and competitiveness and to keep up with the international level, Germany needs to plan, approve, and implement faster.

To achieve these goals, first of all, the right to collective action must be limited. In addition, lawsuits should only be possible for those who also participated in the administrative procedure, Laschet explained. During a meeting with Musk, the Chancellor candidate said that it should not be permissible for those people who do not live in the region to have the right to file lawsuits demanding a halt to the construction of such projects. “It is unacceptable that someone who does not live here, but lives in the North Sea or the Bavarian Alps, can file a claim to end such projects,” Laschet said. “This is why Tesla was looking for a small loophole in the Federal Emission Protection Act that could create such a company with early action."

It became clear that Germany needs new regulation in this area in accordance with European legislation. Without such steps, major projects, and the energy transition, will not be successful.

Laschet received support from the deputy chairman of the Union faction Thorsten Frei. “Every future coalition partner must acknowledge that we will build faster in Germany, that we will more quickly approve that we have shorter procedures and shorter administrative processes,” he said. "Only then, on the one hand, we will achieve climate change, and on the other hand, we will retain our place in the top group of industrialized countries."

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