The adoption of the December deductions and a price brake from March have already been decided, according to Finance Minister Lindner, the government is now working on further relief for gas customers. In the medium term, the FDP leader also wants to cover the supply with domestic fracking gas.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has promised further relief for gas customers. "If the gas price brake does not come until spring, it must be checked whether the burden can be relieved retrospectively via an annual or quarterly statement," he told the Funke media group. "We're working on that right now," he added.
Citizens who heat with oil or wood pellets can also hope for further relief. At least Lindner did not explicitly rule this out. "You have to see the overall effect of the different relief measures - from the heating cost subsidy to the new housing benefit to the flat-rate energy price," he said. A price brake for heating oil and pellets is "not currently planned, but it is being discussed".
Lindner also campaigned for rapid entry into the production of domestic shale gas using fracking. "We have significant gas deposits in Germany that can be extracted without endangering drinking water," said the FDP chairman. The funding is "responsible even under ecological conditions," explained Lindner accordingly. "It would be rather irresponsible to refrain from fracking because of ideological commitments."
The Funke newspapers quote Lindner as saying that "environmentally friendly fracking is possible at several locations in Germany". "We have to move quickly to production. I am confident that in a few years we will be able to cover a relatively large demand from domestic gas sources. It is advisable to do this when you look at the development in the world."
Fracking uses chemicals and pressure to extract natural gas contained in layers of the earth. Since 2017, the exploitation of gas deposits in slate and coal seam layers has been banned in Germany because this is considered a threat to the groundwater, among other things. The economy and the parties FDP, CDU/CSU and AfD have recently repeatedly called for this ban to be lifted.
