Punch and Judy show from Stuttgart
Today in NRW and other parts of Germany the so-called fifth season begins: Carnival. If you look to Stuttgart at the moment, you might think that here too, the Jecken have taken over the town hall in carnival tradition.
The Regional Council of the Motor City has commissioned an expert report to estimate how high the nitrogen dioxide pollution is in parts of the city.
Thus one would like to avert a diesel driving ban after months of back and forth. The coalition committee of the state government is thus opposing a zonal traffic ban on diesel (including pollutant class Euro 5) planned for the beginning of July, which is currently being prepared by the Stuttgart Regional Council in the course of the 5th update of the air pollution control plan.
"The air is getting cleaner and cleaner, there should be no expansion of the low emission zone", said Andreas Schwarz, leader of the Green Party parliamentary group. This rare political unity is also confirmed by the statement by CDU faction leader Wolfgang Reinhart: "Our measures are working. We are counting on not needing any further driving bans".
The reason for this change of senses is the decrease in the measured values of nitrogen dioxide. However, whether the uncertainty of the population will also disappear into thin air remains questionable. The tug-of-war that has lasted for months seems to have no end; the Stuttgart government is losing credibility.