Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) has urgently warned against putting the acceleration of planning and approval procedures on the long bench. “It would have been good if we had met with the Federal Chancellor this year and something had come of it,” said the Vice Chairman of the Prime Ministers’ Conference (MPK) to the “Westfälisches Anzeiger” (Monday edition). It is disappointing that this important topic has now been removed from the agenda for the MPK on Thursday.
“It was agreed that a pact to speed up planning would be agreed,” said Wüst. “So far, however, the federal government has not made any sufficient proposals to speed up planning. That’s why the issue is unfortunately not yet ready for a decision.” It is not enough to promise more engineers or more money. “You can see from the closed A45 bridge near Lüdenscheid and unfortunately from too many other examples of how long planning takes in Germany, even if work is being done at full speed.”
The reason for such massive delays is German planning law. “We hired a lot of capable engineers who are busy working through the many process steps,” criticized Wüst. “They produce a lot of paper, but unfortunately not enough concrete. The state has done itself – and I say this quite consciously – insanity.”
The CDU politician warned that if the implementation of democratically legitimized decisions takes too long and the citizens doubt the state’s ability to act, this will damage democracy in the long run. Among other things, clear rules against abuse of rights are needed. “If everyone within the federal government agrees, it can happen quickly,” said Wüst. “The largest opposition faction in the Bundestag shares the need 100 percent. So all of this could be decided next year.”
