"Now is no time for water ballet!" - Industry boss irons social worries at "Hard but fair".

Created: 08/16/2022, 11:59 am

Christian Kullmann guest at "Hart aber fair" © Screenshot/Das Erste

"Hard but fair" was about a possible gas crisis in winter.

The chemical industry supports the course of the traffic light – the head of the association lectures with relish.

Cologne – "There's nothing nice about it, there's still a long way to go, I can't rule out a gas shortage." The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, isn't on the ARD talk "Hard but fair" to give the all-clear.

The head of the authorities, described by moderator Frank Plasberg as the "most important man of the evening", feels visibly uncomfortable with his key role at the center of the gas crisis: "It's nothing that feels good and powerful," he replies.

The situation is too serious and stressful for that.

The German gas storage facilities are currently already 75 percent full and the level will continue to rise until autumn - but it is still uncertain whether the required level can actually be reached.

"Hard but fair" - these guests discussed with:

• Saskia Esken (SPD)

  - party leader

• Jens Spahn (CDU)

  - Union parliamentary group vice

• Klaus Müller

   - President of the Federal Network Agency

• Christian Kullmann

   - President of the Chemical Industry Association and CEO of Evonik Industries AG

• Verena Bentele

   - President of the social association VdK Germany

The CEO of Evonik, Germany's second largest chemical company, with sales of around 12 billion euros and 33,000 employees, has no problems with power: Christian Kullmann is also President of the Association of the Chemical Industry.

In the show he is the prototype of the business boss who thinks in state-supporting categories and calls for the economy to be prioritized over individual fates in order to secure jobs.

"Freezing in winter, worried about jobs: what happens when we run out of gas?" asks Plasberg in his first talk after the summer break.

And it also shows how short-lived the media world is: the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, which was a dominant topic of talk until recently, seems to be taking a back seat, at least for the moment.

Now it's about the financial worries and fears in this country.

"Hard but fair": "Now is no time for water ballet" - industry boss irons social concerns

Unsurprisingly, the president of the social association VdK Germany, Verena Bentele, has a completely different opinion from the self-confident business representative.

She emphasizes the need of the people and does not even want to rule out a "social crisis".

You are already getting “baskets” of letters from concerned citizens who, with a monthly income of 1000 euros, could not bear the immense burden.

SPD leader Saskia Esken, who reveals herself as a heat pump user on the show, thinks: “Those who have the least are already saving anyway.

You don't have to explain to them how to take a cold shower."

Kullmann sees it differently: "Everyone will have to learn to do without this winter".

He defends the recently introduced gas levy, which will also cost the chemical industry he represents three billion euros.

That is bitter, like a "bottle of cod liver oil that you drink on ex" - but unavoidable.

But the VdK President does not give up: "The chemical industry and others have distributed insane profits in recent years," she interjects.

The gas surcharge will help the economy to continue to distribute profits.

"What should I say to my members?" she asks Kullmann and demands briskly: "Can you dictate a draft letter to me?"

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The head of chemistry, who does not hold back when he agrees to the traffic light economic policy, is happy to do so and uses the request for a spontaneous presentation on the subject of social market economy: "Work is also the social cement of this society," lectures Kullmann.

Only if Germany is "a strong economy" will "we also be a strong country".

Growth, innovation, wages are needed not only to show "solidarity" with Ukraine, but also to "maintain the welfare state".

Kullmann substantiates his performance again with a very graphic comparison: "Now is not the time for water ballet, now is the time for breaststroke and you have to keep your head above the water".

The gas crisis is also a “social crisis”: Bentele demands that nobody should freeze in winter

Bentele disagrees: "For me, the most important thing is to say to people first: Nobody will have to freeze in winter".

But Kullmann thinks that the state can only do this “for those who are particularly in need”.

This time Esken agrees: "We hope that we can support those who can't help themselves with further relief."

That is the keyword for Plasberg, in addition to the rising energy prices, to bring the gas levy into play, which burdens consumers with additional costs.

Müller sees no “alternative” to the levy.

It is necessary in order to avert a large wave of bankruptcies among gas suppliers, which threatened due to the lack of gas imports.

There are already "significant savings on the part of the industry," he says.

It is now important to educate consumers about their options for saving gas.

According to Müller, this is a job for politics, business, trade unions, social organizations and consumer protection groups.

CDU man Jens Spahn criticizes the gas levy above all for a "cynical" levying of VAT on the levy.

He is surprised at the quick but wrong decision in this case, while in his opinion the decision-making processes are "delayed" when it comes to questions about extending the lifetime of nuclear power or further relief for consumers: "The chancellor has been putting us off on the relief for weeks", like that.

Spahn also criticized the fact that the Federal Network Agency, instead of politically elected representatives, alone decides on the distribution of energy sources in the event of a shortage.

"It would be as if the Robert Koch Institute had decided on the Corona measures," compares Spahn, who was Corona Health Minister himself, somewhat unhappily - and gets laughs from the viewers.

Conclusion of the "hard but fair" talk

The talk got emotional in every direction.

The mood varied from confrontational to concerned to humorous.

Opinions and well-known arguments were exchanged and criticized in many places, and praised in some places - but nothing was done in depth.

Rather, the guests were concerned with the respective positioning.

Moderator Plasberg also failed to encourage his guests to look into the future and to show concrete ways in which the energy transition could look like - at state level and for individuals in their private lives.