Praise and criticism in the north-east for the Berlin traffic light: The Federal Government's resolutions to relieve the burden on citizens and companies are met with mixed responses. Prime Minister Schwesig agrees, from the CDU and AfD harsh criticism. The economy reacts differently.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) - The federal government's third relief package to relieve citizens and companies in view of the massive rise in prices has triggered different reactions in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) received praise on Sunday. The package contains the right steps for the people in the country, she explained. "The 65 billion euros will help citizens and companies to meet the challenges of the energy crisis."
Many suggestions from the energy summit MV are included. She was very committed to ensuring that pensioners and students should now also receive a flat-rate energy price, said Schwesig, according to the State Chancellery. The agreed electricity price brake and the planned skimming off of chance profits are also a great help in view of the price increases in the electricity market. This applies in particular to citizens with small and middle incomes.
"It is correct that this is also being strived for at European and national level for gas prices - as we proposed at our energy summit," said Schwesig. In addition, the increase in child benefit, a speedy housing benefit reform, additional help for companies, possible tax-free one-off payments by employers and a successor solution for the 9-euro ticket are particularly important for MV.
"The people in the country were forgotten again," commented AfD state spokesman Leif-Erik Holm. "Especially the citizens in MV who have to commute the longest distances to work, and with the lowest wages, are the pinched." Even with the price of gas, there is no solution. The energy supply must increase drastically. It is therefore more than overdue to connect all available nuclear and coal-fired power plants to the grid. That's the only way to keep prices down.
From the point of view of the CDU in the state parliament, the relief package is a huge disappointment. Group leader Franz-Robert Liskow criticized that one-off payments were planned for population groups that were simply forgotten in the last package. With the new local transport ticket, commuters who rely on the car got nothing.
"There is no relief from the high gas costs, nor is there any relief from the exorbitantly high fuel prices since the end of the tank discount, nor is the price of electricity being re-regulated," Liskow complained. The working middle of society should hardly be relieved and many entrepreneurs would face existential problems. "We need an energy price cap that limits the costs for gas, electricity and at the pump."
For the left, relief for pensioners and students is overdue. However, the package is associated with many imponderables, remains too vague in some areas and falls short in some areas, said Jeannine Rösler, leader of the parliamentary group. How excess profits from energy companies are to be skimmed off is still in the stars. Announced reforms, especially with regard to housing benefit, must come as soon as possible, Rösler demanded. The federal states would face further significant financial burdens with this package.
The association of business associations sees many measures that can have a relieving effect if they are implemented promptly. It remains unclear how energy-intensive small and medium-sized companies in particular can be helped to obtain reliable liquidity, said Managing Director Sven Müller. "Extended credit programs and extended guarantee frameworks do not go far enough." As soon as the concrete form of the package is available, the association wants to discuss the necessary supplements for the state with the state government.
According to the FDP member of the Bundestag Hagen Reinhold, many people in MV will particularly benefit from the package. This combines solidarity, performance justice and solidity.
In view of rising prices, the traffic light coalition in Berlin had agreed on a third support package worth over 65 billion euros. Pensioners are to receive 300 euros as a one-off energy price flat rate, students and trainees 200 euros. In the future, a discounted price will apply for basic electricity consumption. The goal for a new nationwide public transport ticket is a price range between 49 and 69 euros per month. Standard rates for the needy and child benefit should increase.
