Photo: Patrick Pleul/AFP via Getty Images

On August 13, German Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet visited Tesla's construction site. During his visit and meeting with the CEO of the company Elon Musk, he called for the acceleration of the approval procedure for projects.

Union Chancellor Candidate Armin Laschet called for an expedited approval process on Friday, during the visit to the construction site of US electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. Giga Berlin initially faced strong opposition from environmental organizations, whose participation in this process is being questioned. Laschet spoke on the side of the head of the company, Elon Musk, in favor of changing collective rights to act.

The politician said that this should not be permissible so that those people who do not live in the region have the right to file lawsuits demanding a halt to the construction of such projects. “It is unacceptable that someone who does not live here, but lives in the North Sea or the Bavarian Alps, can file a claim to end such projects,” Laschet said. “This is why Tesla was looking for a small loophole in the Federal Emission Protection Act that could create such a company with early action."

After Tesla faced delays, Musk critically assessed the problem, and in early April suggested to the government how to solve it. In a statement, the company proposed ten steps to improve approval processes. These include fast-track procedures for sustainable projects, as well as accounting for indirect environmental impacts. According to Tesla, at present, signs of relatively minor local impacts may prevent the implementation of larger projects on a larger scale.

On August 13, at a joint press conference with Laschet, Musk once again returned to this issue. “If rules and regulations are added every year at the state, federal, and EU level, then at some point people will not be able to do anything,” he said. This is why it is important for Musk that rules and laws are regularly reviewed to question their benefits and consider repealing them. “They can be re-introduced at any time if it turns out that this is not very good,” he continued. "If you add new rules every year, at some point there will be no progress."

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