Schwerin (dpa/mv) - Concerns about further increases in energy prices are also fueling the debate in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania about effective measures to relieve consumers. "Especially in view of the low average disposable income in our state, rising energy costs together with the general price increase represent a significant burden for many people," stated the managing director of the MV town and community day, Andreas Wellmann, on Friday in Schwerin. It is therefore important to counteract this with combined forces. Wellmann called for the creation of social security instruments for private households, insolvency protection for municipal utilities and the accelerated expansion of renewable energies such as wind and sun.
Finance Minister Heiko Geue (SPD) renewed the demand on the federal government to skim off high crisis profits from corporations and use the money for social compensation. "In addition to an excess profit tax, a special levy on excess profits could also help to keep competition functioning and ensure an affordable energy supply," explained Geue.
The leader of the left-wing parliamentary group in the state parliament, Jeannine Rösler, also called for a fair distribution of the burden and questioned whether this could be achieved with the announced gas levy. "The fact that companies with fat profits should also benefit from this takes the whole project to the point of absurdity," she said. In addition, people would become more insecure. "Already the announcement of the gas levy without saying at the same time how consumers and the economy should be relieved was a big mistake," said Rösler. The project must therefore be stopped.
The opposition AfD accused the state government of planlessness. The announced aid was far from sufficient. "Two funding pots totaling 40 million euros should be the big step to protect 1.6 million citizens from the horrendous energy costs. How credible is that supposed to be when the state government has increased its own additional costs for energy by up to 70 million and more quantified," says AfD MP Martin Schmidt. He renewed his party's demand to give up the one-sided focus on renewable energies and to continue to use nuclear power and coal.
