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Filled shopping cart: The concern about rising prices is great
Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
In view of the high inflation, social organizations and trade unions have called for significant relief for low-income households.
Above all, the rising food prices "hit the poorest the hardest," warned Diakonie Germany against the background that from Monday there is a risk of further price increases, especially in discounters.
The social association VdK called for an effective relief package that also takes pensioners into account.
"I assume that a quarter of the population has too little money for the necessities of life and is now in existential difficulties," warned Maria Loheide, director of social policy at the Diakonie.
The standard rate for basic security has long been too low and the corona pandemic and the Ukraine war have "considerably aggravated" the situation.
The Diakonie therefore demanded an immediate surcharge of 100 euros per month, which will be paid out for six months.
Such a surcharge for social emergencies could be laid down in the Social Security Code and thus "reach the poorest quickly and unbureaucratically".
VdK President Verena Bentele told the “Passauer Neue Presse” that many people, especially those with small pensions, “no longer know where to save: when eating out, when going to the doctor or when heating”.
“We have been observing for years that poverty in Germany is becoming more and more entrenched, and there are hardly any people who make it out of there.” The pandemic and the price increases of the past few months have reinforced this development.
As with the government's first relief package, "the pensioners have been completely forgotten again" in the second package, which has not yet been implemented, criticized Bentele.
"All those with small pensions and people with reduced earning capacity must finally get a supplement that really helps them," she demanded.
Economist warns against overly broad aid packages
The economist Friedrich Heinemann from the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research warned in the "Augsburger Allgemeine" that price increases should be further intensified with overly broad aid packages.
A "precise policy" is required.
"Very precise aid" should come to the aid of poor households and energy-intensive companies "that would otherwise slide into bankruptcy as a result of Putin's war," Heinemann advertised.
The economist explained that oversized economic stimulus programs in the USA in particular have fueled inflation.
»The price-driving shortages of microchips and many internationally traded goods are also due to the global corona aid programs.
In a way, inflation is the price of a successful policy that has mitigated the Corona crash.” The European Central Bank (ECB) must now jump over its own shadow and raise interest rates.
more on the subject
Imports twice as expensive: Gas from Russia drives up energy prices
Energy prices have risen particularly recently.
IG Metall launched an appeal to the federal government to initiate further relief from these prices for the population.
As the union announced on Sunday, 8,100 works council members and other stakeholders joined the campaign - together they represent 2.4 million employees.
The representatives of the workforce criticize the fact that employees with lower and middle incomes in particular are suffering from the rising energy costs.
Specifically, IG Metall and works councils are demanding, among other things, a temporary reduction in taxes on electricity and gas and a gas price cap for consumption of up to 8,000 kilowatt hours.
lov/AFP/Reuters
