Green parliamentary group leader pleads for further relief package

Created: 07/19/2022, 21:15

By: Nadja Austel

Green party leader Katharina Dröge speaks to media representatives in Berlin.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

Energy prices will continue to rise.

"A tripling" is to be expected in the coming year.

Another relief package is to be launched.

Düsseldorf – The chairwoman of the Greens parliamentary group, Katharina Dröge, is calling for another relief package because of the rising energy prices.

The households that need it most urgently should be specifically supported, the Greens politician told the Düsseldorf Rheinische Post on Tuesday (July 19).

It should be ensured that relief is socially staggered.

"We will therefore negotiate another relief package with our coalition partners," said Dröge.

Gas prices have increased sevenfold on the spot markets, she explained.

The distribution companies and municipal utilities would "of course not yet pass this on one to one".

"But we probably have to reckon with a tripling in the coming year based on the development of the last few months," said the leader of the Greens parliamentary group.

Saving energy – private households should also participate

According to the Green Party politician, private households should also help save energy.

"What you can make mandatory is check the heating settings," she explained.

This can save up to 15 percent.

In addition, it could make sense to lower the temperature in office buildings in winter.

"We should really explore all the ways we can save energy, especially in the event that Nord Stream 1 does not go back into operation," Dröge told the Rheinische Post.

Because what is usually not newsworthy – the maintenance work on a turbine of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline – is causing a great deal of excitement this year.

There is a fear that Russia will then no longer be able to start supplying gas.

In this case, Germany would face an acute shortage with unforeseeable economic consequences.

Energy supplies: Gas from Russia could flow again soon

Of the four pipeline connections for transporting gas from Russia to Germany, three are currently idle: the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, which never went into operation, the Yamal pipeline via Belarus and Poland, and now Nord Stream 1. On the other hand, Russia still supplies pipelines that lead via the Ukraine and the Czech Republic – albeit to a far lesser extent.

Most recently, a good third of the volume transported through Nord Stream 1 flowed, with Russia having reduced the delivery volume through the Baltic Sea pipeline to 40 percent since June.

According to recent information, Moscow may soon raise the gas tap to this level again.

(na/epd)