As of: February 8, 2024, 1:34 p.m
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The Union is accused of using unfair means in the Federal Council: it wants to link its approval of the Growth Opportunities Act to demands on agricultural diesel.
Berlin - In order to reverse the traffic light coalition's cuts to agricultural diesel, the Union is using its bag of tricks: it is linking its approval to the Robert Habeck Growth Opportunities Act to this.
The party under Friedrich Merz only wants to agree to the traffic light growth package if tax breaks for farmers on agricultural diesel are not canceled at the same time.
The Growth Opportunities Act provides for various tax reliefs and is intended to relieve companies of around seven billion euros annually.
It has already been decided in the Bundestag.
However, the states had stopped the law in the Bundesrat because, in their view, it would create too big a hole in the budgets of states and municipalities.
The mediation committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat is scheduled to deal with the conflict on February 21st.
Wants to use tricks to push through agricultural diesel in the Federal Council: Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz (CDU).
© Kay Nietfeld/David Young/dpa/Montage
Union demands declaration from the traffic light coalition on agricultural diesel
As the
German Press Agency
(
dpa
) learned from negotiating circles, the Union wants to demand a protocol declaration in which the federal government makes a binding commitment to legally repeal the planned regulation for agricultural diesel.
Otherwise there will be no approval of the Growth Opportunities Act.
Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) told the newspapers of the
Bavarian
media group
:
"As Union-led states, we are making changes to agricultural diesel a condition for approving the Growth Opportunities Act."
Is the Union going too far?
Ultimately, the connection between the growth package for companies and the tax exemption for agricultural diesel is not clear.
And so there is also sharp criticism of the Union's maneuver: "I don't understand the Union's position here at all," said the chairman of the medium-sized business association, Christoph Ahlhaus, to
ARD
.
“Irrelevant things” are linked to the demand for the traffic light to first withdraw the subsidy for agricultural diesel.
The Scholz government also criticized the irrelevant connection on Wednesday.
CDU politician criticizes the Union’s agricultural diesel trick as a “scheme”
Ahlhaus pleaded with the Union to focus on the issue: “Every possibility, every opportunity to help medium-sized businesses in their ability to grow is more important today than ever before,” emphasized the former CDU mayor of Hamburg.
“And you can’t delay this out of pure political intrigue.” Anyone who does this will “not live up to their social responsibility and must also ask themselves the question of whether they are fit to govern at this point in time.” (
AFP/dpa/smu )