Mosel protest ‘sunk’ by German elections

Mosel Bridge - artist's impression

(Image credit: Mosel Bridge - artist's impression)

The latest high-profile protest against the Mosel road bridge, backed by Hugh Johnson, has failed to make an impression on German politicians and the country’s media.

The international media including The Washington Post and The Financial Times have brought the issue to global attention but the recent German election campaign has marginalised the protest.

Eveline Lemke, head of the Green Party in the Rhineland-Palatinate told decanter.com, ‘The protest has not had very much impact on the German media, though it has become clearer to many winemakers in the Mosel region.

‘This issue sank in an ocean of discussions about the Steinmeyer-Merkel contest.’

The country’s re-elected power holders are still pressing ahead with the bridge and four-lane motorway, which is likely to damage some of the world’s best Riesling vineyards in the villages of Wehlen, Graach and Zeltingen.

Hendrik Hering of the SDP party and the region’s minister for economics, transport, agriculture and wine, said, ‘Apart from the residents in direct proximity to the new bridge, there is widespread support across the region and the state for the project.

‘This is a profitable measure, which is important for structural politics for large sections of Rhineland-Palatinate and Germany, and as such, the stance of the state in this plan is unchanged.’

Objections to the bridge have already been rejected at both regional and national level.

Opponents have vowed to continue fighting. National television station ZDF is set to film a documentary examining the controversial bridge in Urzig.

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Written by Rebecca Gibb

Rebecca Gibb MW is a wine journalist and editor who has also founded Bamboozled games, ‘the world’s first wine and spirit puzzle makers’. Having spent six years living in New Zealand, she has recently returned to her native north-east England. While in New Zealand, she became a Master of Wine, graduating top of her class and winning the Madame Bollinger medal for excellence in tasting. A former winner of both the UK’s young wine writer of the year and the Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer, her first book The Wines of New Zealand was published in 2018. She also runs wine events and has her own consultancy business The Drinks Project. She was a judge at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).