Gas price talk with Anne Will: "What we see are real fears"

In Germany, the fear of existentialism and heating is rampant.

Gas price talk with Anne Will: "What we see are real fears"

In Germany, the fear of existentialism and heating is rampant. In "Anne Will" on the occasion of the Lower Saxony elections, the reasons for the concerns and the right remedies are discussed. But nobody knows what the gas price brake should look like - and the uncertainties continue to rise.

Germany is afraid. Before the loss of wealth, before the recession and high prices, before a cold winter, before Vladimir Putin and his war. Since the start of the ARD Germany trend almost 25 years ago, there has never been such great concern among the population. At the same time, criticism of the federal government, which is struggling with itself and for the right answers in these turbulent times, is growing. And so there are two main topics in the discussion round at Anne Will on Sunday evening: the concerns of the Germans and their influence on the state elections in Lower Saxony and a traffic light coalition that hopes for the gas price brake as a panacea - but nobody knows how she looks.

It was an SPD election victory in Lower Saxony against the national trend, says talk show host Will right at the beginning of the show. While the FDP suffers a crushing defeat, the old and probably also the new Prime Minister, Stephan Weil, and the Greens can boast of successes after an election campaign that was characterized by federal political issues. But why doesn't Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose poll numbers are falling more and more, not manage to inspire the citizens and allay their fears? Of course, the major current issues "played a very important role," says Lars Klingbeil, "but it was still a state election" and "Scholz wasn't up for election in Lower Saxony." The SPD party leader defends the criticized chancellor: "There has never been a federal government that has had to deal with so many crises."

In addition to the FDP, the CDU also blundered, achieving the worst result in Lower Saxony since 1955. Why couldn't the Union, which wanted a vote on federal policy at the election, convert the penalty? Jens Spahn admits that it has not been possible to translate the concerns and "discontent among the population into votes for the Union". That "also has something to do with 16 years in government". The deputy CDU parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag prefers to switch directly from the miserable election result - true to the fear topic of the evening - to attack mode: "Many still don't know what to expect in terms of electricity and gas prices," he says to Klingbeil . "Prosperity across the board is crumbling" and one can no longer be sure: "Are we going to stay industrialized?"

Klingbeil refers to the gas price brake, for which a specially convened commission is to present the concept on Monday and for which 200 billion euros will be spent. "We will be measured by what we deliver in the next few months," he says. This should relieve the population and reduce their fear of the cold winter and high prices. Of course, Spahn is not going fast enough, a program should have been decided long ago: "We have known for months that we have to use everything that produces electricity. Everyone knows that the heating season begins at the beginning of October. In one of the biggest The finance and economy ministers argue every day about the crisis in this country."

"We all have to get faster there," admits Ricarda Lang. The Federal Chair of the Greens had recently insisted on more speed from the Chancellery. So is Scholz too slow? "No, nonsense." But Lang emphasizes again: "What we see are real fears". These "fears of existence" should not only be resolved in the short term, but one wants to "maintain prosperity in the long term". There were relief packages for this and the gas price brake should guide Germany safely through this and the next winter. At the same time, one should not "lose the long-term view" and must consistently promote and expand renewable energy in order to secure the power supply and become "independent of Putin".

When asked why the traffic light coalition is slowly coming around the corner with the gas decision for the winter, Robin Alexander has a simple answer. "Because she decided something else first," says the deputy editor-in-chief of "Die Welt," "namely the gas price levy." Then she would have "recognized that it's not so good, but time was lost there."

But the uncertainty among the population is growing because there is still no consensus in politics as to how exactly citizens should be relieved when it comes to heating: "Are we just reducing the bill or is there also an incentive to save?" asks Alexander. In the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" newspaper, the Arbeiterwohlfahrt, for example, warned against simply relying on a one-off payment and thus not giving enough support to people who live in real poverty.

"I don't know what the commission will come up with," says Klingbeil. "But I'm counting on it being a mixture of savings incentives and financial relief." According to Lang, however, there is "not only pure dualism". She supports the possibility "with a capped gas price", because "citizens would be relieved directly on the bill and it would "at the same time create an incentive to save". Here even Spahn agrees. But immediately afterwards he shows himself again as an aggressive opposition member: " We now have this sum of 200 billion euros and nobody knows what will happen!" Klingbeil counters: "The only proposal from the Union was: we shut off the gas pipeline to show Putin properly."

Lots of uncertainties, little clarity. Fears and worries everywhere. The voting in Lower Saxony was shaped by this like probably no state election before. But the frustration of the population migrated in the form of votes not to the CDU, but to the AfD. Talkmaster Will drills into Spahn whether the CDU party leader Friedrich Merz with his "social tourism" would not have caused even more fears and at the same time more AfD instead of Union votes. Suddenly it gets heated again in the talk show. Wild will interrupt each other and talk about each other. "The social tourism word was wrong," explains Spahn. "But Merz correctly identified the problem, that's the Union's program. Immigration has to be managed." Merz also apologized.

Lang doesn't want to accept that from the Greens, she doesn't see any excuse from Merz and accuses him of "populism". The fishing on the right edge of the CDU party leader has something from AfD campaigns: "Proceed, apologize, row back" and something then gets stuck. The CDU is jointly responsible for the AfD success in Lower Saxony. You can discuss anything, but: "A migration debate that relies on fear, that must not happen!" Klingbeil also wedges in the direction of Spahn: "Merz is still 20 years behind." He was "a true political pro" and then "deliberately started such a debate shortly before the election with such wording".

Whether Lower Saxony vote or gas price brake: In the end, the discussion group wrestles with each other in a similar way to what the traffic light coalition has been doing for months. The fact that the FDP party leader Christian Lindner said after the election that his party wanted to reconsider its role in the government will not make it any easier for the already unsettled citizens. Above all, the fears of the Germans require quick decisions, clear answers and better crisis communication. Even the talk round was not able to bring about any relief from worries.