Scholz 'overwhelmed draft law to heat pumps is blocked by the highest German court

The plans of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz to exit oil and gas boilers were failed by the Supreme German Court after a parliamentary vote on plans to replace them on the grounds that it had been overwhelmed.

The government of Mr. Scholz has submitted a law to encourage homeowners to replace heating systems with fossil fuels with more climate -friendly alternatives such as heat pumps.

The government had hoped to bring the draft law through the parliament on Friday, the last day before the summer break.

But with its judgment of Wednesday, the Federal Constitutional Court prevented the parliament from treating the law this week in the second and third reading.

The court decided in favor of an opposition member who argued that his rights were violated as legislators if the law was enforced without the possibility of a more detailed examination.

The dispute has drawn the government down in surveys

The injunction on Wednesday refuses to get the government of Mr. Scholz the chance to get out of a dispute quickly that has pulled it down in surveys in recent months.

The two junior partners of his center-left coalition, the environmentalists of the Greens and the economic-friendly Free Democrats, had publicly argued about the law for months before they came out with a simple compromise in mid-June.

The draft law was only completed last week, with important elements of the original plan being watered down, which made the opposition members annoyed by the haste of the coalition to say goodbye before the summer break, the original period.

The changes that would enable the installation of new gas boilers if they could later be switched to hydrogen and move the date for the exit also attracted the anger of environmental groups, which say that the changes in Germany's net zero drive are hindered

The new bill was referred to in the tabloid, based on Robert Habeck, the German Climate and Economic Minister.

opponents fear that due to the high costs associated with the exchange of gas and oil boilers, it would lead to a burden on the finances of the homeowners.

The legislator calls for the installation of new heating systems, which can be operated at least 65 percent with renewable energy. It would apply to new housing estates from next year, but otherwise it may be possible for longer transition periods.

The heat problem is the largest of several that combines the coalition of Mr. Scholz, the parties who are not traditional allies, have raised the impression of constant arguments and disorder.

The center-right-Christian Union and the right-wing extremist alternative for Germany are currently clearly ahead of the government parties in the surveys.