Brandenburg's new law: environmental associations on the defensive!

Brandenburg's new law: environmental associations on the defensive!

Cottbus, Deutschland - in Brandenburg is currently being worked on with high pressure on a new law that is intended to restrict the right to accommodate environmental associations. The aim of this measure is to reduce bureaucracy, an initiative that has found broad support in the state parliament. All political groups, including the coalition of the SPD and BSW, agree that the changes must be made in order to accelerate applicable regulations on standardized and approval procedures. However, while politics considers these steps to be necessary, environmental associations, especially the NABU, show great concern about the possible consequences for nature conservation.

Environment Minister Hanka Mittelstädt emphasizes that changes in the law are a return to the requirements of the Federal Nature Conservation Act and that federal law should only be relevant for legal rights. Currently existing additional legal rights in Brandenburg would be abolished. This approach of state law to nationwide provisions describes the coalition as indispensable in order to reduce the administrative effort and at the same time increase efficiency. However, environmental associations warn of the loss of central participation rights. For example, the state chairman of the BUND Brandenburg, Franziska Sperfeld, alerted the endangerment of democratic rights in environmental and nature conservation.

legislative proposals and critical votes

The draft law, which has already been approved by a special committee for reduction in bureaucracy, stipulates that nature conservation associations will no longer have a right to cooperate in building projects with low effects on nature and landscape. This step encounters considerable criticism. Of the approximately 4,000 people who support the petition of the federal government and NABU are feared that the protection of the environment and nature in Brandenburg will endanger. The opposition, represented by the AfD and CDU, on the other hand, sees the draft law as a necessary step to reduce bureaucracy and to accelerate approval procedures.

Another point that is repeatedly taken up in the discussions is the claim that inefficient administrative structures are responsible for long approval procedures, not the existing lawsuit. In the political debate, representatives of the environmental associations indicate that reducing the rights of action is not the solution to problems within environmental administration. Relevant points such as freedom of approval for development in local edges up to 300 meters in protected areas as well as the lack of permits for Agri-Photovoltaic plants in landscape protection areas have also been criticized.

The context of environmental lawsuits

The pressure on environmental policy grows. The Federal Constitutional Court emphasized intergenerational justice for more climate protection. In view of these challenges, environmental suits are becoming increasingly important. These complaints aim to assume governments and companies to enforce applicable laws to protect the environment. The eco-institute deals intensively with the legal framework for environmental lawsuits and illuminates their importance for climate and environmental protection at a national and international level. The need to protect the rights of environmental associations could also be decisive in the context of the upcoming changes in the law.

Overall, it can be found that the planned law in Brandenburg not only reduces bureaucratic hurdles, but also to put basic rights in environmental and nature conservation. The argument about the rights of the environmental associations will continue to shape the political landscape in Brandenburg and at the same time influence public opinion on the protection of natural habitats. While some rely on efficiency and reduction in bureaucracy, others are fighting for the preservation of their say and an intact environment.

The current developments are therefore still carefully pursued, both by the political actors and the concerned citizens who stand up for the protection of their environment.

rbb24 reports , n-tv informed , and Öko-Institut The complex aspects around the planned changes in Brandenburg.