Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has announced key points to relieve citizens and companies in the energy crisis.
“This week we will present the cornerstones of how the Gas Commission’s proposals can be implemented,” said Scholz today after a meeting with employer and trade union representatives in the Chancellery. The cabinet will already deal with the implementation of the proposals on Wednesday. The aim is to quickly implement both the announced gas and electricity price brakes, explained Scholz.
The commission of experts, which had been dealing with relieving the burden on the population and companies in the face of high energy prices in the past few weeks, had “made very good suggestions,” said Scholz. The federal government will now “work through” them along with the final report presented today.
Protection against dismissal in the case of energy debts
The final report includes the proposal to give tenants six months protection against evictions if they cannot pay their energy bills because of rising prices.
“Tenant households must be given at least six months to settle their energy debts,” says the 34-page paper. “Tenant households affected should receive support from the debt counseling service. With the help of the aid fund, energy cuts can be avoided.” This help is to be maintained until the housing benefit plus planned by the federal government can be paid out.
According to the Commission’s ideas, landlords should receive interest-free liquidity support if they make advance payments for their tenants. The money is to come from an emergency aid fund planned for the period from January 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024. Its funds are also intended to support households with lower and middle incomes that cannot bear the growing costs themselves. Income and the amount of energy costs should be relevant here. There should be a separate aid fund for social institutions such as hospitals or nursing homes.
The Commission’s proposals
The expert commission includes experts from associations, trade unions, science and the Bundestag. In its interim report published a few weeks ago, the Commission had already recommended a one-off payment for gas and district heating customers in December and a gas price brake from March. The federal government has initiated the one-off payment, the concrete implementation of the gas price brake is still pending.
For large industrial companies, the Commission had proposed their own gas price brake effective from January. According to the report, possible hurdles under European law have now been cleared after talks between the Federal Government and the EU Commission last week. The Brussels authority must authorize greater financial support for companies so that competition in Europe is not distorted.
According to the Commission’s ideas, support should only be given to companies that have affected locations and have made agreements with the works council or the supervisory board. If such co-determination structures do not exist, companies should have to prove that they will keep at least 90 percent of the jobs at least one year after the end of the support – and otherwise pay back the money.
“We will also accompany this with the legislative steps that are now required immediately. And those that will still come about in the course of this month, we must then implement in detail,” explained Scholz on the further procedure.
The Chancellor also praised the exchange with the social partners, which took place for the third time today as part of the so-called concerted action. There should be another meeting in this format by the beginning of next year at the latest, said Scholz. Consultations with the social partners began with a first meeting in July this year. From the outset, the aim was to work out solutions to the current energy and inflation crisis in a dialogue that would relieve the burden on people and companies.
Social partners praise relief measures
The DGB Chairwoman Yasmin Fahimi welcomed the planned gas price relief measures. However, she criticized the expert commission’s proposal that companies could resell subsidized gas that is not needed at normal conditions. The relief for companies cannot be about “stabilizing profits,” warned the DGB boss.
Employer President Rainer Dulger emphasized: “I basically agree with the proposals of the Commission. It is important, however, that this help comes quickly and is not tied to even more conditions.” Companies are facing existential challenges and should not be burdened any further.
