"Borks!" Gas levy also for corporate profits?
Now even the SPD is demanding improvements from Habeck
Created: 08/23/2022, 16:15
By: Florian Naumann
Who pays what?
Robert Habeck (left) and Olaf Scholz at a cabinet meeting.
© IMAGO/Florian Gaertner/photothek.de
The gas levy heats up the spirits more than any fan heater.
It is now clear that the money will not only flow to companies threatened with insolvency.
Even the SPD is getting impatient.
Berlin/Munich – The gas surcharge and its design continue to meet with resentment and incomprehension – now also in the traffic light coalition.
And, what may seem even more striking: even in the SPD, which has so far mostly been in line with the Greens cabinet members around Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck.
After the announcement of the amount of the levy, a storm of anger swept through Habeck.
Recently, however, the doubts have continued to grow.
The reason for this is a clarification from the federal press conference on Monday (August 22): Susanne Ungrad, one of the spokeswomen for the Ministry of Economic Affairs, explained there: Funds from the levy are not only received by companies that are threatened by insolvency.
What's more: "A company needs a certain profit margin in order to be able to continue operating," emphasized Ungrad.
Apparently, these profits could also be fed from the levy - with the blessing of Habeck's ministry.
Although the surcharge was once announced as protection against bankruptcies.
Gas levy very different than expected: CDU, Left, associations attest Habeck "botch"
The sequence from the press conference shared by the journalist Tilo Jung on Twitter met with great interest with more than 1,000 retweets and citations.
And to even greater resentment - first with the opposition from the left to the CDU.
“The message was: Gas levy necessary because Uniper’s collapse must be prevented.
Now we hear that avoiding insolvency is not a criterion for filing an application," said the CDU MEP Dennis Radtke.
The demand of the politician from the workers' wing of the Union: "This political and technical botch must be stopped before people are asked to pay."
The left-wing parliamentary group leader Susanne Ferschl stated that the levy secures company profits, while some people no longer know how to pay their bills.
Her question: "Say, traffic light, is it still okay?" The head of the Parity Welfare Association, Ulrich Schneider, also expressed a lack of understanding: "I can't stand it anymore," he tweeted.
It is quite possible, however, that the traffic light coalition will also have to try to settle the dispute internally: in the ranks of the critics – who were still growing steadily on Tuesday afternoon, for example around the head of state Manuela Schwesig (SPD) or left-wing celebrity Sahra Wagenknecht – ranked SPD leader Saskia Esken also joined in.
Traffic light dispute about the gas levy: Esken gives Habeck homework
The country's top social democrat refrained from bold expressions of horror shortly after a scolding by FDP colleague Christian Lindner for public coalition disputes.
But Esken put in a tweet a whole catalog of homework for Habeck's ministry: "Conditions under which companies receive support from the state or from the gas surcharge must be open and clearly defined," she demanded.
“Corporations that earn more than good money with other sectors have to help themselves.
Distribution of dividends must be excluded.”
But that doesn't seem to be the case.
The information from the Habeck spokeswoman can also be found in an "FAQ" from the Trading Hub Europe (THE) - as well as a list of those companies and corporations that have expressed an interest in money from the gas levy.
And THE should know: The cooperation project of several network operators is jointly responsible for the implementation of the gas levy project and has also calculated the required amount.
Gas surcharge: Eleven companies apply for money - some of them recently made billions in profits
And indeed: A risk of insolvency is not part of the criteria for grants from the gas surcharge.
According to THE, "gas importers directly affected by a significant reduction in the total gas import volume" can assert a claim.
The only restriction mentioned: "... if the gas procurement contracts were concluded before May 1, 2022."
According to the THE, twelve companies have reported "reports and forecasts to THE".
Such a "notification" seems to open up the possibility of payments, but does not equate to the application.
In addition to the importer
Uniper
, which is actually threatened with insolvency ,
RWE
is also on the list, which officially wanted to forgo the funds and received a public thank you from Habeck.
The RWE trading subsidiary Supply & Energy is on this list, but currently does not want any money, an RWE spokeswoman told the AFP news agency on Monday.
It is purely a precautionary measure.
Gas surcharge: Which companies have applied for money?
AXPO Solutions Ltd
DXT Commodities SA
EWE Trading GmbH
ENET Energy SA
Gunvor Group Ltd.
OMV Gas Marketing & Trading GmbH
SEFE Marketing & Trading Ltd (
formerly Gazprom Germania
)
Uniper SE
Vitol S.A
VNG Trade & Sales GmbH
WIEH GmbH
The list thus contains some explosive material.
According to a report in the Handelsblatt
, the
Swiss energy trader Axpo
and the formerly partly Russian company
Gunvor
increased their sales
by 100 percent and 200 percent respectively in the first half of 2022.
The
taz
journalist Malte Kreuzfeld provided further examples: The Reuters agency
reported record profits of 4 billion euros for the
Vitol group for 2021.
OMV
from Austria even celebrated record results for the first six months of the crisis in 2022.
However , the
taz
also had a small relativization ready: It was not yet clear which company had applied for how much money, one could read there.
According to our own research, more than 90 percent of the money will go to the four companies Uniper, SEFE, Wingas and VNG.
More than half should go to Uniper.
With a presumed total levy volume of 34 billion euros, the remaining ten percent are really no small matter.
The reason for the rather lax procurement rules according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs: The regulation must meet the principle of equal treatment.
Gas levy: consumer advocates angry – and even the Greens are putting pressure on Habeck
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV) also urged the levy to be limited to actual insolvency risks.
"The federal government has said clearly that the gas levy can only be claimed by companies to avoid insolvency and not to secure profits," explained board member Ramona Pop.
And even the Greens raised objections on Monday: "In case of doubt, the legislature must also be prepared to tighten the criteria for claims," said Green economic politician Dieter Janecek in a diplomatic tone.
It remains to be seen whether the traffic light coalition will actually act again.
Habeck spokeswoman Ungrad only emphasized on Monday that there were talks about “random profits”, i.e. a possible variant of an excess profit tax without burdens for innovative successes such as Biontech’s corona vaccine.
(
fn with material from AFP
)