Habeck agrees to change the gas levy

Created: 08/28/2022, 23:06

The planned gas allocation is controversial.

© Marijan Murat/dpa

There is great dissatisfaction with the planned gas levy, and criticism even came from the coalition partners.

Federal Minister of Economics Habeck is now announcing changes.

Berlin - Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck has promised a change in the planned gas levy.

The change is intended to prevent companies that do not need it from an economic point of view from benefiting from these additional payments by gas customers.

"That's why you have to work hard on the problem now.

And we do that too," said the Greens politician on ZDF's "heute journal".

"We will solve this problem."

The challenge is to ensure the supply of gas to the population and companies, "and that was in danger," explained Habeck.

Direct state aid to ailing companies is not a solution.

"Permanent financing by the state is not a business model, and that's why we had to choose this allocation," he explained.

"We have to see that these companies, which actually don't need access to this surcharge, don't get it either."

The Greens politician warned against taking the good filling level in the gas storage facilities as a relaxation.

The stored gas should "be withdrawn again as a reserve" in a possibly tense situation in winter - but how stable the situation will then be, "no one can now predict".

The gas storage facilities are already 82 percent full and should soon reach the level of 85 percent targeted for October.

“We only got it so full because consumption went down in the summer.

And that's why the appeal is still correct: we have to bring gas consumption down in Germany," warned the minister.

dpa