Speech by Fridays for Future

Translation into English

It's great that you're all here for today's gas action day. I'd like to go back about a year briefly. On May 6, 2025, the current federal government was sworn in at the Bundestag. It went like this: Julia Klöckner, Bundestag president and former chief lobbyist for Nestlé, read the oath of office; it goes like this: "I swear that I will dedicate my strength to the German people [...]," blah blah blah.

And as the fifth minister, Katherina Reiche came forward and said: "I swear it, so help me God." [1]

And that's already pretty strange. Chairwoman of a fossil fuel company, who for the past nearly a year has been dedicating all her strength to the common good? Yeah, right. True to her old employer, she is now planning with the federal government the construction of dozens of new gas power plants. Why is this bullshit? There are a whole bunch of reasons for that:

• We're making ourselves dependent. On one hand, on global market prices, as you can see right now in the wake of the attack on Iran [2]. This ultimately falls on consumers—all of us. But hey, at least the government is doing something about high oil prices, like with the fuel tax break or the reduction in aviation taxes. What the fuck? Is that the relief we need? What good is a reduced aviation tax when I have to commute to the city for work? And for the fuel tax break, which is supposed to apply for May and June [3], about 1.6 billion in tax money will be burned—just for those two months. That's 100 million more than the federal government contributes annually to the Deutschland-Ticket [4]. What kind of dishonest argument is it that there's no money for the D-Ticket? We need affordable public transit for everyone, not expensive quick fixes!
• But back to the gas issue. Through the LNG terminals that will soon pollute the North and Baltic seas, and the corresponding contracts that were concluded, we're making ourselves dependent on fascist-wannabe dictators like Donald Trump (the USA is the world's largest LNG exporter). Is that what Reiche means when she talks about securing energy supply? Cooperation with fascists cannot be the answer!
• Besides, gas isn't just used for electricity generation, it's also used for heating apartments. Rising gas prices hit us all through utility bills. If only there were a technology that was efficient, cheap to operate, and independent of fossil fuels and all their drawbacks... Oh right, heat pumps! The only problem is that Katherina Reiche plans to essentially gut the Building Energy Act (aka heating law), and in doing so, further slow down the energy transition in the building sector, which already emits far too much in comparison. What was that again about technology neutrality? Apparently only for technologies from the last millennium.
• And as if that weren't enough, we'll indirectly pay for Reiche's gas craze through higher energy costs. The new gas power plants are supposed to be financed through a surcharge that will be added to electricity prices [5].
• And obviously, at some point we want and need to become climate-neutral. If new gas infrastructure is being built now—whether power plants, pipelines, or LNG terminals—then these will continue to be used for decades to come, so that at least some money comes in. ("Investment protection," they call it. That's probably also why fax machines are still so popular in German government offices). In other words: Here, billions of our tax money is being sunk into technologies that nobody needs, that drive up electricity prices and thus inflation, and on the side is also harmful to people and the environment. Why do we let ourselves get away with this shit?

And it's not just us lefty greenies criticizing Reiche's policy. As of today, 5,891 companies have joined a petition in which they criticize Reiche's energy policy [6]. So let's sum it up: Reiche's policy harms consumers—us—and also the economy, which she claims to feel so responsible for. Her policy is not an answer to the crisis, it IS the crisis. The concerns of the economy and the population don't matter to Reiche. She's only interested in continuing to secure profits for large fossil fuel corporations and other beneficiaries of the climate crisis at the expense of us all. So much for her dedication of her strength to the "German people"! This can't go on! We won't let Katherina Reiche and her fossil fuel mafia reach into our pockets anymore!

That's why: Be loud, take your anger to the streets. Today we demand a just energy transition, an immediate moratorium on all new fossil fuel projects, and Katherina Reiche's resignation!

[1] https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2025/kw19-de-kanzlerwahl-bundesregierung-vereidigung-1063998

[2] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/energie/gaspreis-hormus-gasspeicher-iran-krieg-100.html

[3] https://www.zdfheute.de/politik/deutschland/tankrabatt-entlastungspraemie-start-bundestag-100.html

[4] https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Tankrabatt-fuer-Bund-so-teuer-wie-ein-Jahr-Deutschlandticket-id30747727.html

[5] https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/energie/id_101224312/katherina-reiche-plant-neue-stromumlage-zur-finanzierung-der-gaskraftwerke.html

[6] https://actionnetwork.org/forms/wirtschaftsappell