It has now been decided that the country's special energy fund will benefit the economy and private households. Immediately before it was passed in the state parliament, an FDP proposal caused considerable irritation.
Erfurt (dpa/th) - With the votes of the Red-Red-Green, CDU and FDP, the Thuringian state parliament has created a special energy fund. Many who are particularly suffering from the massive increase in energy costs should benefit. Nevertheless, the state will not be able to support everyone who is affected by the cost increases, said the left parliamentary group leader, Steffen Dittes, on Friday in Erfurt. "We also have to be honest." The AfD and the parliamentary group of citizens for Thuringia abstained from voting on a corresponding draft law.
The special fund has a total volume of 407 million euros, red-red-green and the CDU had agreed on it on Wednesday after tough negotiations.
Of the money, 300 million euros are to be used to support the economy by 2025. The remaining 107 million euros are earmarked for aid for school authorities, kindergartens, hospitals, clubs and private households. Before the money can be applied for, however, a number of organizational requirements still have to be met.
Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) called the energy aid program a clear and unambiguous signal. "We don't leave anyone alone in this crisis situation, and we mean that with all our hearts," said the politician on the Free State's YouTube channel. The state parliament and state government had decided not to wait until all details had been settled at the federal level, but to develop an aid strategy now "in order to be able to put up a protective shield over our Thuringian society".
Immediately before the vote, representatives of the CDU and Red-Red-Green each claimed that they had significantly promoted the provision of the aid. "This is a CDU law that is being passed here today, including with your votes, but it remains a CDU law," said the parliamentary group leader of the Union, Mario Voigt. His parliamentary group is acting because both the state government and the traffic light coalition in the federal government have let down the economy in the Free State in particular.
The left parliamentary group leader Dittes contradicted Voigt. Red-Red-Green and the state government have been working on aid for months and have made specific preparations for this. The CDU, on the other hand, has made demands, especially in public. That's not enough. "You don't help people by launching a press release," said Dittes. The SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Hey said it was sad how much the CDU was trying to distinguish itself in the debate about the special fund.
Formally, no new special fund will be created with the state parliament resolution, but the earmarking of the state's existing Corona special fund will be expanded and additional money will be transferred to this special fund.
The parliamentary debate was accompanied by the FDP's proposal to put another 290 million euros from the state reserve into this fund in 2023. The FDP politician Robert-Martin Montag said that taking this money from the reserve was more responsible in terms of financial policy than incurring further debt for the special fund. The CDU is sympathetic to the proposal, which is now being discussed further in the state parliament's budget and finance committee.
Against this background, however, representatives of Red-Red-Green accused the FDP and CDU of wanting to limit the financial scope of the minority coalition for the next few years with this initiative. The opposition wants to gain advantages for the state elections in 2024, said Thuringia's Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD). Hey accused the FDP of bad form because the Liberals had not submitted their proposal in joint rounds of negotiations with Red-Red-Green and the CDU on the establishment of the special fund.
