Fueling and heating are expected to become more expensive next year. The Bundestag voted to increase the price of CO2. The Bundestag also approved the supplementary budget for 2023 and – as a prerequisite for this – the new suspension of the debt brake.
The Bundestag paved the way for a higher CO2 price for fuel, gas and heating oil. Parliament decided that from January onwards 45 euros will be owed per ton of CO2 emitted. Currently it is 30 euros. The Bundestag thus implemented the first part of the traffic light government's large budget package.
In fact, the traffic light only wanted to increase the price of CO2 to 40 euros at the turn of the year because of high energy prices. But after the Federal Constitutional Court's budget decision, we are now returning to the steeper path that the former CDU/CSU government had charted years ago.
Revenues from the CO2 price flow into the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF), which finances climate protection projects, among other things.
Surcharges for refueling and heating
Consumers now have to reckon with rising fuel, oil and gas prices. According to ADAC, a liter of gasoline could become around 4.3 cents more expensive at the turn of the year. Diesel drivers would have to expect an increase of around 4.7 cents.
According to calculations by the comparison portal Verivox, gas is more expensive by 0.39 cents per kilowatt-hour, and heating oil by 4.8 cents per liter. A family of models with heating needs of 20,000 kilowatt-hours would therefore have additional annual costs of 78 euros for gas and 96 euros for oil heating.
Federal government makes use of emergency situation
The Bundestag also approved the traffic light coalition's supplementary budget for the current year. The majority of deputies voted nominally in favor of the budget change, which was made necessary by the budget decision.
As a prerequisite for this, Parliament had already lifted the debt brake anchored in the Basic Law for the year 2023, for the fourth consecutive year. The decision was taken with the Chancellor's necessary majority of 414 yes votes, 242 no votes and nine abstentions. The federal government justifies this with an exceptional emergency as a result of the war in Ukraine, which is provided for as an exception in the Basic Law.
This essentially puts the financing of energy price support loans from the FSM crisis fund on a different legal basis. Previous credit authorizations expired due to a decision by the Federal Constitutional Court.
New debt of 70.6 billion euros
With the supplementary budget, the federal government, with a new expected debt of 70.6 billion euros, exceeds the loans allowed under the debt brake by 44.8 billion euros. Of this amount, 43.2 billion euros are attributable to supporting energy prices for gas, district heating and electricity.
Around 1.6 billion euros are earmarked for the flood relief fund following the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley in 2021. Its financing from old credit authorizations is also no longer applicable following the Court's ruling Constitutional on the KTF.
The court ruled that loans taken out while the debt brake was lifted could only be used in the year the emergency was declared. The court therefore deprived the traffic light government of 60 billion euros that it had transferred to the KTF from Corona loans.
Jan Zimmermann, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, December 15, 2023 12:10 pm