Christian Dürr in the "early start": "We should burden the citizens less"

For tax relief and more options in the energy supply: FDP faction leader Dürr wants to react to the planned gas levy and the high energy prices with a mix of measures.

Christian Dürr in the "early start": "We should burden the citizens less"

For tax relief and more options in the energy supply: FDP faction leader Dürr wants to react to the planned gas levy and the high energy prices with a mix of measures. You also have to talk about fracking.

The leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, Christian Dürr, pleads for further relief in view of the high energy costs and the additional gas levy. "Right from the start, we should burden citizens less with taxes and duties. And of course, the focus here is on income tax in particular," said Dürr in ntv's "Frühstart". "This affects 48 million income tax payers in Germany." This would give citizens more of what they earn and not fuel inflation any further.

According to Dürr, the state cannot spend an infinite amount of money and now has to pay high interest on the debt. "In this respect, the resources are limited," said the FDP parliamentary group leader. "We have launched two relief packages and are now talking about a third."

In order to curb energy costs, Dürr is in favor of opening up more options in Germany - and extending the operating times of the nuclear power plants beyond December 31st. "If we manage to do that, then we would have more relief overall," said Dürr. "Because the goal shouldn't be that we're still generating electricity after December 31, so we should conserve resources and use everything we have at the moment."

He understands that the Greens find it difficult to agree to an extension of the term. But it's not about building new nuclear power plants. "In Germany, no phase-out is planned, but it is specifically about this and probably the coming winter, when we are in a real energy emergency," said Dürr. And you have to react pragmatically. One must also talk about fracking gas in Germany in the future, just as one is already talking about additional gas production in the North Sea. "All of these are things where we need to open up more options."

Dürr does not believe in commissioning the Nord Stream II gas pipeline. "Nord Stream I is not fully used," says Dürr. "We would have enough gas if Putin would supply enough gas at the site and would be faithful to the contract." In his own words, Dürr does not assume that more gas would reach Germany via Nord Stream II overall. "You can't rely on Putin there. Other excuses would then be put forward," said the liberal. "I think we should be clear about that."