Merkel: Clean air in cities one of new government鈥檚 first tasks
Concrete measures to improve air quality in Germany鈥檚 most polluted cities are one of her new government鈥檚 first tasks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Klaus Kleber in an interview with broadcaster ZDF. 鈥淭he new transport minister 鈥� but I myself will also contribute very strongly here 鈥� will now have to determine very quickly how to build a bridge to the mobility of the future,鈥� Merkel said. She told Kleber diesel hardware retrofits were 鈥渙f no use鈥� if they took three years and used up funds needed for 鈥渋nvestment in the future鈥�. The chancellor said she was pleased about Volkswagen鈥檚 large 2017 profits, as 鈥渕aybe money can also be invested in the future. Nonetheless, I was amazed there were very high raises of certain salaries.鈥� VW CEO Matthias M眉ller a total compensation of 10.14 million euros, an increase of almost 40 percent.
Find the interview in German .
For background, read the 威力彩玩法 dossier on the new government, the profile on the new transport minister Germany's car-loving transport minister faces clean mobility challenge and the factsheet Diesel driving bans in Germany 鈥� The Q&A.