BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2021) Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg urged Germans on Friday to go out and vote in this weekend's Federal election, but warned that casting ballots was not enough to tackle climate change.
"Yes, we must vote, you must vote. But remember that voting alone will not be enough � we must keep going into the streets and we must keep demanding our leaders take climate action," she said.
The 18-year-old spoke at a Fridays for Future strike in front of the German parliament in Berlin. More rallies took place in Bonn, Hamburg, Munich, Bremen, and Freiburg.
"Voting is essential, but alone it is not enough. If we want to ensure a safe present and future on planet Earth we need to be active democratic citizens and go out in the streets," Thunberg told the cheering crowd.
She criticized German parties for their weak climate agenda, echoing a September report by the German Institute for Economic Research, which found that none of the parties proposed a concept for reaching the 2030 emissions target.
"No party is even close to proposing a pathway that will be consistent with the Paris agreement," Thunberg said.
Germans will go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament, or Bundestag, which will choose a successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel. The potential pick will come from either Merkel's conservatives, the center-left Social Democrats, or the Greens.
