To relieve the citizens against high energy costs, the traffic light wants to span a 200 billion umbrella. How the costs should be divided between the federal and state governments remains controversial after the summit in the Chancellery. Even in details there is no breakthrough.
The federal and state governments have not yet reached a consensus on the distribution of the costs for relieving citizens and companies in view of the high energy prices. "There are still discussions about how this can be shouldered in detail," said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz after the consultations with the prime ministers of the federal states in Berlin. "But I have the impression that we are on a very constructive path and that we will also come to an agreement about this task."
Scholz calculated that the previous relief packages and the special fund now planned will have a total volume of 295 billion euros. "The federal government will take on and finance almost 240, 250 billion euros of this," said the Chancellor. According to him, the concrete design of the planned electricity and gas price brake is still being discussed.
The federal government wants to protect consumers and companies from high energy prices due to the Ukraine war with a package of measures worth up to 200 billion euros. Gas and electricity prices should be capped. There should be liquidity and equity support for companies. Details are still open. The aid is to be financed through loans. The consultations also included a solution to replace the 9-euro ticket for local and regional transport that expired at the end of August.
The Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, was very disappointed with the results of the federal-state meeting with Scholz. "I would have hoped that we would put a button on it, but unfortunately that didn't happen," said the Greens politician in the US city of Pittsburgh. The states are too far apart from the federal government on individual issues.
So you couldn't agree on the question of a "cheap ticket" for local transport, said Kretschmann. It makes no sense to introduce a cheap ticket if the states have to cancel trains at the same time because they do not receive so-called regionalization funds from the federal government. Next week it will be clarified whether there will be an agreement. By the end of the month, it should also be clarified how the federal government will contribute to the refugee costs.
Kretschmann said it was agreed that there would be a noticeable reduction in gas prices. Electricity prices would follow suit. There was agreement that companies, institutions and citizens would be noticeably relieved. However, it has not yet been possible to agree on other things because the design of the gas price brake depends on whether further aid is required for companies or hospitals, for example. This must then be clarified quickly.
Kretschmann named money for hospitals, housing benefit and the assumption of refugee costs as central points of conflict. The Green politician is currently on a delegation trip to the USA and has been connected digitally to the federal-state group from Pittsburgh in the US state of Pennsylvania. In the past few weeks, he had repeatedly insisted on more money from the federal government - including for local rail transport in the federal states.
One must continue to work on an agreement, said the chairman of the conference of prime ministers, Lower Saxony's head of government Stephan Weil from the SPD, after the consultations in Berlin. The 9-euro ticket has brought considerable relief in urban areas, but not in many rural areas where there is not such a good offer. NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst from the CDU said that it should not happen that bars have to be thinned out. The transport ministers of the federal and state governments should consult again. When presenting the summit results, Wüst said that unfortunately the federal government had not shown any willingness to compromise on any of the disputed points.
