BUILDING MORE AN FASTER – Statement by the Mouvement Ecologique : Unbalanced government document with one-sided orientation raises numerous questions!

Three ministries – the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Housing and Regional Planning and the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Biodiversity – have recently presented a package of measures on behalf of the government: “building more and faster”.

There is a consensus that there is a need for action – particularly in affordable housing construction. It is also obvious that approval procedures should be simplified or harmonised. The Mouvement Ecologique has therefore made several concrete proposals in recent years on how nature conservation procedures can be simplified – and how this can even create added value for nature.

The government’s declared aim with this package of measures is to optimise procedures and requirements in order to reduce barriers to housing construction while also protecting biodiversity. The presentation of the document may still give the impression that this could be achieved. However, this image is deceptive: what may have come across as a fairly detailed package of measures that would take into account different interests could in reality turn out to be a Pandora’s box at the expense of nature and people’s quality of life!

According to the Mouvement Ecologique :

• is a completely one-sided analysis of the problem: only supposed simplifications from the point of view of the developers are cited, which can question the interests of the overall development of the municipalities, the citizens, nature conservation and also, in a certain sense, agriculture;
• the catalogue of measures raises a variety of unanswered questions: The extremely large number of measures lack clear target orientations as to where the journey should really go. Those who only use general formulations without specific statements are avoiding the really important questions. In any case, the basic tenor seems to be: Flexibilisation and procedural simplification, even if this comes at the expense of preserving biodiversity and people’s quality of life. The government – and in particular the Environment Minister (!) – have a duty to prove the opposite!
• numerous fundamental problems are being ignored: It is a fallacy to think that the main hurdles to a faster approach to housing construction would lie primarily in the area of nature conservation! Such a “narrative”, which is being spread by a number of politicians these days, falls far short of the mark. Despite the need for targeted improvements in the area of nature conservation and, in particular, the issue of compensating for interventions in nature, a simplification of administrative procedures must not lead to an erosion of nature conservation regulations (and citizens’ rights). However, when reviewing some government measures, one cannot shake off this feeling …
• Those who only want to improve on “this track” may ultimately solve some problems, but will trigger others or only shift problems. These include
  * the diverse consequences and follow-up costs of settlement projects for municipalities, which deter many municipal leaders from allowing their municipalities to grow too quickly;
  * the inadequate mobilisation of unused building land or vacant buildings within the perimeter;
  * the lack of integration of new neighbourhoods into the existing settlement area in some cases, to name just a few of the key problems that need to be addressed. The government document is silent on this.

This government set out to take all social interests into account. This is currently not the case with the present action plan. In the opinion of the Mouvement Ecologique, the current version does not guarantee a sufficient balance between justified improvements to procedures, the protection of the natural environment and people’s quality of life – including in times of climate change.

The one-sided view of the problems, the actual failure to recognise the biodiversity crisis, but also the problem of overheating settlements and thus the need for more green structures: all of this seems highly disconcerting. It is also unclear at present whether the rights of citizens and the municipality are still being safeguarded to a sufficient extent.

The Mouvement Ecologique would like to warn against trying to push through this package of measures in a kind of “rush job”. Instead, it is important to initiate a discourse in order to unite the different perspectives into a coherent whole that is in the medium and long-term interests of society.

You can find the summary of the main analysis of the Mouvement Ecologique in the downloads.

05.07.24