Göring-Eckardt on the gas crisis: "We will have a solution by the end of the week"

The traffic light coalition wants to present a solution for the gas levy by the end of the week.

Göring-Eckardt on the gas crisis: "We will have a solution by the end of the week"

The traffic light coalition wants to present a solution for the gas levy by the end of the week. By then it should also be clear what a gas price brake could look like. The Greens politician Göring-Eckardt announces this in "Maischberger".

Can the gas surcharge still be prevented? And if so, how? At the end of the week, the federal government wants to answer these questions, promises Katrin Göring-Eckardt on "Maischberger" on ARD. "We will have a solution for the gas levy by the end of this week," said the Greens politician and Bundestag Vice President during a debate with CDU politician Julia Klöckner. The traffic light coalition is also discussing how a possible gas price brake can be financed. "We have a coalition with different basic attitudes," said Göring-Eckardt, explaining the difficulties in the current talks. She continued: "It is worth all the effort and all the effort that this week is saying how are we doing, how are we going to keep gas prices affordable."

The federal government has little time left to make this decision. The gas surcharge was originally supposed to be introduced on October 1st. That would be next Saturday. Many households have already received corresponding letters from their energy suppliers. This is also clear to Göring-Eckardt. Various ideas are currently being discussed, which she did not want to comment on on ARD. One thing is clear: "The relief of the citizens must come."

Klöckner, the economic policy spokeswoman for the Union parliamentary group, is convinced that the current supply crisis can only be solved with an energy mix that also includes nuclear power. She is still in favor of Germany getting out of nuclear energy. But in the current energy crisis, it is necessary to keep the three nuclear power plants still on the grid running until the end of 2024. Citizens could no longer afford the high energy costs. "We have to increase the supply side, then the prices will also drop," says Klöckner - a thesis that does not apply to the electricity market.

Goering-Eckardt does not agree with the demand. "We will have to do without gas," she says. "We now have to do what has been neglected in recent years: a real booster in renewable energies - so that we can then become completely independent, so that this fossil addiction stops."

The decision to extend the life of two nuclear power plants was very difficult for them. Klöckner's ideas of leaving the remaining nuclear power plants connected to the grid much longer are not shared because of the costs incurred and the nuclear waste that is generated.

As far as gas prices are concerned, Klöckner criticizes the previous course of the traffic light coalition. They only discuss, but make no decisions. "This government is not capable of making decisions. And we don't have time, the citizens are in a bad way," said the CDU politician. The Union is therefore calling for the cold progression to be compensated for this year, the introduction of a different loss offset for companies and a base price for basic gas consumption.

The federal government is currently discussing this, Göring-Eckardt interjects. "But discussing is not a measure, no bill is paid from it," counters Klöckner.

That is exactly what is currently going on: How to finance the gas price brake without suspending the debt brake. At the same time, Göring-Eckard rejected the allegations that the federal government had not done anything. Three aid packages had been decided, and twenty laws had been put in place by the summer alone.

As far as the gas price brake decision is concerned, however, there could now be a problem that Göring-Eckardt did not talk about solving: the federal government cannot pass laws. You need the Bundestag for that. Its current session week ends this Friday. Then Parliament will not meet again until the week after next.