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Opencast mine near Spremberg in front of the Schwarze Pumpe lignite power station: acceptance of the energy transition depends on the success of the structural change
Photo: Rainer Weisflog / imago images
The federal government has set up aid programs so that structural change can succeed in the federal states affected by the coal phase-out.
Economics Minister Peter Altmaier is now presenting reports to the Federal Cabinet for the first time on which aid and projects have been started and where the money is going.
So far, the help has started slowly.
As part of the financial aid, seven projects with a volume of 80.5 million have been started, according to the CDU politician's report, which is available to the dpa news agency.
A total of 175 projects with a volume of a good three billion euros have been confirmed.
The grand coalition had agreed to phase out the extraction and combustion of the climate-damaging coal by 2038 at the latest.
In order to help the coal fields in East Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia with change, up to 40 billion euros are to flow.
The federal government alone wants to create 5,000 jobs in the regions by 2028 by completely or partially relocating the authorities.
According to the report, 2140 positions are already filled.
Altmaier sees the start of the aid as a success.
A distinction is made between financial aid amounting to 14 billion euros and structural aid amounting to 26 billion euros when it comes to the auxiliary pots for the districts.
The report shows the planning status and usage until the end of August.
Main focus in Saxony
Of the financial aid planned up to then, 1.183 billion euros are to flow into the Lausitz district in Brandenburg and 498 million euros into the Lausitz district in Saxony.
For the Central German district in Saxony, 336 million euros were planned and for the Central German district in Saxony-Anhalt 805 million euros.
For the Rheinische Revier it was 191 million euros.
The seven projects that have already started can only be found in Saxony.
Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) recently said that the acceptance of the energy transition and the success of the structural change depend crucially on how new and promising jobs can be created in the region.
In 2020, almost 20,000 were still employed in lignite extraction and utilization across Germany.
An administrative agreement was only reached in August on the structural aid for the sites of hard coal power stations and former lignite mining areas.
The federal government is now awaiting proposals from the federal states.
According to the report, however, he has already planned 40 measures under his own responsibility with a volume of 10.96 billion euros.
How quickly the money can be used and whether it really helps to make up for job losses could be of crucial importance in the climate debate.
The planned traffic light coalition of the SPD, Greens and FDP wants to "ideally" move the coal phase out to 2030.
The political pressure is great because otherwise Germany could miss its climate targets.
However, there is criticism from the affected states of Saxony, Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia because more time is needed for structural change.
The incumbent CDU chairman Armin Laschet also opposed the shortened schedule.
apr / dpa
