Merkel: Clean air in cities one of new government’s first tasks

Concrete measures to improve air quality in Germany’s most polluted cities are one of her new government’s first tasks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Klaus Kleber in an interview with broadcaster ZDF. “The new transport minister – but I myself will also contribute very strongly here – will now have to determine very quickly how to build a bridge to the mobility of the future,” Merkel said. She told Kleber diesel hardware retrofits were “of no use” if they took three years and used up funds needed for “investment in the future”. The chancellor said she was pleased about Volkswagen’s large 2017 profits, as “maybe money can also be invested in the future. Nonetheless, I was amazed there were very high raises of certain salaries.” VW CEO Matthias Müller was awarded a total compensation of 10.14 million euros, an increase of almost 40 percent.