Gas price brake should come

Created: 2022-09-29Updated: 2022-09-29 13:43

The federal government agrees on gas price brake.

© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa

No more gas flows from Russia to Germany - and the government is under pressure to secure supplies and keep prices affordable.

Now there is a solution.

Berlin - The federal government wants to dampen the rising gas prices in Germany with a gas price brake.

The government has agreed on a package of 150 billion to 200 billion euros, as the German Press Agency learned from coalition circles on Thursday.

Financing is to be secured via the existing Economic and Stabilization Fund (WSF).

The coalition partners had come under increasing pressure in recent days due to the lack of Russian gas supplies to Germany in the course of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

A gas surcharge was originally intended to protect large gas suppliers from insolvency.

Among other things, however, there were fears of enormous costs from a levy that consumers would have to face.

It was first announced on Thursday that the SPD, Greens and FDP had reached an agreement in the debate on the controversial gas levy and possible alternatives.

The Federal Chancellery has invited Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) to a press conference on “Current energy supply issues in Germany” on Thursday afternoon.

worry about inflation

Leading economic research institutes warned that a gas price brake could fuel the already high inflation.

Such a brake is also criticized because, according to critics, there would then be less incentive to save the scarce gas.

Because of the high proportion of imports, a reduction in the gas price would require "massive subsidies, which in turn would of course then pump new purchasing power into the private sector," said Stefan Kooths from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy at the presentation of the autumn report by the leading economic research institutes.

This will once again fan the general economic upward pressure on prices.

The controversial gas levy, on the other hand, is better than its reputation.

It's not just about saving the gas suppliers.

By passing on the higher gas prices to the population more quickly, there is also an incentive for customers with old contracts to save on gas.

dpa