Giffey: Countries disagree on funding relief

Created: 2022-09-28Updated: 2022-09-28, 7:50 p.m

The heads of government of the federal states at the Prime Ministers' Conference in Berlin.

© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

Citizens should be relieved in the energy crisis.

But how is this to be financed?

The Prime Ministers do not agree on this.

Berlin - How future relief for citizens in the energy crisis can be financed remains a contentious issue among the federal states from the point of view of Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey.

"That's the point where we couldn't quite agree," said Giffey after a meeting of the prime ministers of the federal states.

In particular, the question of whether new loans can be taken out for financing beyond the limitation of the debt brake "we could not finally clarify," said Giffey.

The SPD-led A-states had made a protocol statement and explicitly advocated such a possibility.

On the other hand, Giffey described the agreement of the countries that an energy-saving cap was necessary to limit energy prices as the "core result" of the talks.

Giffey emphasized the unanimous decision "for the introduction of an energy price cap for electricity, for gas and for heat".

Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey and NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst will hold a press conference after the MPK.

© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

The special conference of the prime ministers was originally intended to be the prelude to subsequent federal-state talks.

Because of the corona infection of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), the joint round has now been postponed to October 4th.

dpa