MPK: Focus on energy and relief — Because wants quick decisions, Wüst sees “problem solvers”
Created: 2022-10-19, 21:46
By: Anna Lorenz
The annual conference of the heads of government of the federal states in 2022 aims to prepare the ground for final decisions on aid and relief measures with regard to the energy crisis.
Berlin – “Important topics are on the agenda over the next two days,” said Stephan Weil’s (SPD) digital greeting at the Prime Minister’s Annual Conference, which will take place from October 20th to 21st in Hanover, Lower Saxony.
The politician clearly defines the goal of the meeting: "It is important to prepare the upcoming, important decisions well so that the next meeting with the Federal Chancellor can quickly get things done."
Prime Ministers' Conference: The focus is clearly on the energy crisis and relief measures
There should definitely be enough to talk about at the conference.
Among other things, “the energy supply and the energy price cap” would be discussed, so “it is also good that Federal Minister of Economics Habeck and Federal Minister of Finance Lindner are coming to Hanover”.
Previous attempts to regulate gas prices had recently failed.
Weil informed the German Press Agency (dpa) that Habeck would now inform the ministers on Friday (October 21) about the developments to date in the examination of the expert commission's proposal.
This had proposed a two-stage relief procedure: As a "financial bridge until the regular introduction of the gas price brake", the federal government should therefore take over the advance payments in December 2022;
From March 2023 to the end of April 2024, prices are to be reduced to twelve cents per kilowatt hour for 80 percent of an estimated basic quota.
MPK in Lower Saxony: Debate on relief proposal by the expert commission planned
The model had not caused any jubilation in the run-up - according to Bavaria's Prime Minister Marcus Söder, the previous concepts of the "Wumms" were missing and Weil also spoke critically to the RND on Wednesday (October 19) about the proposal.
"The timeline proposed by the expert commission does not make sense to me: In December, gas customers will pay on account, in January and February the high prices will apply and only from March will the gas price cap come into effect," summarized the minister, who fears " Then no one will understand."
Precisely this "clarity about what relief in energy prices you can expect in the coming months" described Weil to the dpa as necessary for the population.
Concrete decisions could and should only be made as soon as possible in coordination with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD);
but as Hendrik Wüst (CDU) also emphasized, "the Prime Minister's Conference [...] is an important problem solver for all of Germany." and common goals, federalism works – the Conference of Heads of Government stands for all of this.”