Cracks have widened in the Angela Merkel-led coalition government in Germany after environment minister Barbara Hendricks banned meat at all official events, saying it is a greener approach to eating. Hendricks belongs to the Social Democrats party, which will run against Merkel’s Christian Democrats in the elections later this year and is currently ahead in the polls. Members of the CDU opposed the vegetarian hors d’oeuvres policy, saying it is a sign that an SDU government will try to interfere in people’s personal lives.

Food minister Christian Schmidt called the move “nanny-statism”. “I believe in diversity and freedom of choice. Meat and fish are also part of a balanced diet,” Schmidt said according to the Daily Telegraph. Another senior CDU MP Gitta Coneman said, “They won’t save the climate by branding people who eat meat, and they know this.”

However, the environment ministry said it was simply trying to set a good example in the sausage loving-country, as meat-eating has a higher carbon footprint than vegetarianism.