From: 09/25/2022 20:17
Due to the drastic increase in energy costs, a brake on the price of gas is becoming increasingly important – and the planned gas rate is starting to fluctuate. SPD leader Esken said in Berlin reportshe expects the fee to end soon.
The gas tax drawn up by the Ministry of Economy is increasingly losing support in the traffic light coalition. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil had already voiced doubts about the surcharge for millions of customers to offset higher gas procurement costs a few days ago. Co-boss Saskia Esken has now done it again. “I am firmly convinced that we will reach the end of the gas tax this week,” she said in the Berlin report.
Klingbeil added in the ZDF that he had “no doubt that we will get a final decision on the gas tax next week.” Federal Minister of Economy Robert Habeck (Greens), as the responsible department head, must now present a proposal “on how to proceed with the gas tax”.
Lindner asks the “question of economic sense”
Finance Minister Christian Lindner also spoke at the debate: “The gas tax is less of a legal issue than increasingly an economic issue,” said the FDP leader. “We have a gasoline surcharge that drives up the price. But we need a gasoline price brake that drives the price down.” After all, it will take some time for the federal government to provide help for families, crafts, sports or cultural clubs. A gas price brake should “quickly help everyone in an economy”.
Gas rate discussion: is it coming to an end now?
Kristin Becker, ARD Berlin, Daily Topics 10:45 pm, September 25, 2022
So will the gas surcharge, which would mean additional costs for consumers, be eliminated – and will there be a price cap, which aims to relieve families and which is likely to cost many billions of euros? And how will this be financed? A new controversy is already brewing. Because federal budget funding affects the issue of the debt brake, which only allows federal and state governments to borrow new loans to a limited extent.
Lindner wants to meet the debt brake again in 2023 and emphasizes that a brake on gas prices must be combined with stable long-term public finances. “The debt brake for the federal budget is in place.”
Lang asks for a funding proposal from Lindner
But the leader of the Greens, Ricarda Lang, held him accountable: “The gas surcharge could disappear once the Finance Ministry shows a willingness for alternatives,” she said in the Berlin report. This could only be funding for the stabilization of “budget” gas suppliers. The aim must be to stabilize gas companies, lower gas prices and rescue companies from this difficult situation. “And the finance minister must now propose how this should be done financially.”
“It’s time to strengthen the economic substance of this country”
Berlin Report, September 25, 2022
Special assets as a solution?
Lang was open to a new federal fund. She referred to the €100 billion special fund for the Bundeswehr. A special fund has the advantage for the government that its loans are accounted for against the national debt but do not meet the debt brake requirements.
SPD leader Esken also sees room for a debt brake. In his view, the conditions have long been in place to lift the debt brake in 2023, Esken said in the Berlin report. “Of course you can also go the way of a special fund.” That would have the advantage that assets could still be raised this year, when there is still an exception to the debt brake, according to Esken. “But in the end it all comes down to the fact that we have to finance things.”
Even in the Corona crisis, many have increased their assets, the SPD president said. “I think those with very high net worth and those with very high incomes should do their bit now.”
“In the end, it all comes down to the fact that we have to finance things”
Berlin Report, September 25, 2022
Scholz depends on commission
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far held back on the fee issue. The aim is to lower the “very high prices” of electricity and gas, he said during his visit to the Gulf States. He referred to a panel of experts that is currently examining various models. They met for the first time on Saturday. He expects “quick results”, the chancellor said.
Despite the nationalization of the Uniper group, the federal government initially stuck to the gas tax – at least as a bridge, as Habeck called it. The surcharge must be paid by individuals and companies from October to support energy companies that now have to buy more expensively in other markets due to the Russian gas failure. However, the federal government is still analyzing whether charging after Uniper’s nationalization is constitutionally admissible. Habeck expressed doubts here, because the nationalization of Uniper could transform the charge into a kind of special tax.
The minister emphasized that businesses and citizens urgently need help. “Gas prices need to come down, costs to the economy and families need to be limited,” he told newspapers from the Funke media group. But now it is necessary to “increase all the financial strength of the State necessary to lead the good substance of our economy through this crisis and maintain social cohesion”.
Ministry names costs for gas price caps
For the first time, the Ministry of Economic Affairs also provided figures on the maximum gas price. To reduce the price of electricity to the final consumer by one cent per kilowatt-hour, the state would have to raise 1.3 billion euros. To lower the price of gas by one cent, it takes up to 2.5 billion euros. According to a report by the Germany editorial network, the Federal Ministry of Economy wrote this in its response to a request from the left-wing faction in the Bundestag. Total costs would therefore depend on “how high the cap is set and how end-consumer prices develop.”
Mathematically, however, an average family with an annual gas consumption of 20,000 kilowatt-hours in a single-family house would save about 200 euros a year for every penny spent with state funds, a single family with an annual consumption of 5,000 kilowatts- hour around 50 euros per year.
Deputy Union parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn (CDU) criticized the traffic lights government for its manipulation of the gas tax. “For weeks now, finance and economics ministers at the traffic lights have publicly discussed and increased uncertainty amid the crisis,” he told Welt. “The two must finally sit down and find a solution for the good of the country.”
Gas allocation fluctuates, brake on gas price is more likely
Martin Polansky, ARD Berlin, 25 September 2022 19:32