The federal and state governments wanted to discuss the financing of the third relief package tomorrow, Wednesday. The date is postponed because of Scholz’s corona infection. However, the countries still want to meet. Because there are still too many unanswered questions.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has postponed the meeting with the prime ministers to next week to finance another relief package due to his corona disease. “We are postponing the meeting with the prime ministers of the federal states by six days to October 4 because we agree that it is better to meet in person and not just virtually,” Scholz told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. After all, there is a lot to talk about. Scholz tested positive for the corona virus yesterday and is currently in quarantine at home.
Before the meeting originally planned for tomorrow, Wednesday, there had been a dispute between the Federal Government and the Prime Minister about how the costs of the planned third relief package of 65 billion euros should be shared. The federal states are demanding a greater say and a higher share of the costs from the federal government. “We are united by the common goal of providing relief very quickly so that our country can get through this difficult time well,” emphasized the newspaper’s Scholz.
The current chairman of the Prime Ministers’ Conference (MPK), North Rhine-Westphalia’s Hendrik Wüst, tweeted that the states would still meet this week. “The heads of government of the federal states are working as planned this Wednesday in their MPK on solutions for how our country can get through the energy crisis well in autumn and winter,” explained Wüst.
Meanwhile, Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann has attached conditions to his state’s yes to the billion-euro relief package. In return, the federal government would have to give the federal states much more financial support elsewhere if they were to support it, the Greens politician demanded. “Where there is an urgent need for movement from the federal government, and rightly so, these are the regionalization funds, housing benefits, hospital financing and the refugee-related costs.”
An agreement with the federal government would be very difficult, he said. Kretschmann also insists that the federal rescue package be expanded for small and medium-sized companies whose existence is threatened by the energy crisis. The Green politician warned the federal government not to let the states down. “Otherwise we would run the risk of not being able to draw up any constitutional budgets at all. We cannot and will not do that. In this respect there is considerable pressure to reach an agreement.” Baden-Württemberg fears that the state and municipalities in the southwest will have to contribute 4.8 billion euros to the traffic light relief package.
