While Bola Tinubu spent millions of dollars flying 1,411 unnecessarily busy-bodied delegates to Dubai for COP28 amid multidimensional poverty ravaging Nigerians, Germany’s vice chancellor and economy and climate minister, Robert Habeck, cancelled his planned trip to the climate change conference due to the urgent need to resolve the budget crisis at home.
He was expected to attend the COP28 summit on Tuesday but decided to stay in Berlin after consulting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who requested his presence.
The budget crisis was triggered by a recent ruling from Germany’s Constitutional Court, which invalidated the government’s plan to use €60 billion ($65 billion) of borrowed money for climate projects.
The court said the money, which was originally allocated for the coronavirus pandemic, could not be redirected without parliamentary approval.
The ruling has put immense pressure on Mr. Scholz’s three-party coalition government, which must agree on a new budget for 2024 before the end of the year.
The coalition consists of the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the Free Democrats (FDP).
The budget negotiations are currently led by Mr. Scholz, Mr. Habeck, and Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
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They have to reach a political agreement by Wednesday so that the budget can be approved by the Cabinet and sent to Parliament for further deliberation.
Mr. Habeck expressed optimism about the progress of the talks in an interview with Germany’s ARD television station on Sunday.
He said he was confident that the coalition partners would find a common solution for the budget and the climate policy. He also acknowledged the difficulty of the process, but said it was moving forward.