Ulm (dpa / lsw) - Baden-Württemberg's Economics Minister Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut demands transparency from the federal government as to the order in which and according to which provisions companies should be supplied in the event of a gas shortage. "What worries me is the north-south divide. Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are the last links in the chain when it comes to pipelines," said the CDU politician to Ulm's "Südwest Presse" (Saturday). "If too much gas is extracted in the north, the south will look into the pipe. That must not happen, that would be fatal." Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann has invited to a gas summit on Monday.
Hoffmeister-Kraut demanded from the EU that reporting obligations for companies, for example on the sustainability of their products, be suspended until the end of the crisis situation. "Right now a flood of reporting obligations is coming to companies from Brussels. This additional bureaucracy is crippling and demotivating," said the minister. "We have to do everything we can to combat climate change. But it doesn't help anyone to paralyze companies. The EU is creating a bureaucratic monster."
She doesn't believe in tax increases. These would be poison in the current situation. "Then many companies would say goodbye to Germany as a location, and many top performers would reorient themselves," said Hoffmeister-Kraut. "We will lose wealth." This also applies to entrepreneurs. "Take the energy sector: the competition from Asia or the USA is not affected by the price explosions. That puts our economy under enormous stress."
The companies would have to diversify more in the export markets in order to make themselves as independent as possible. "But that won't happen overnight," said the minister. "Of course, if you have the right quantities, it's easier."
