Companies that receive more than 50 million euros in energy aid are not allowed to pay bonuses or dividends. However, according to the DGB, this increases the risk of de-industrialisation. One can criticize the special payments, but now is not the time for criticism of the system.
DGB boss Yasmin Fahimi criticizes the ban on dividends and bonuses linked to state energy aid. Companies that receive grants of more than 50 million euros after the energy price brakes have been passed are not allowed to make any special payments to managers or distributions to shareholders. Fahimi complained that companies could not accept state support if they were bound by dividend promises or needed new capital for investments.
“These are the normal mechanisms of the market economy,” said Fahimi. “It may be that you don’t like them. But now is not the time for fundamental capitalism-critical debates, but for effective action in reality.” With the exclusion of dividend payments in the current situation, one accepts with approval “that the risk of de-industrialization is increasing in Germany”.
She went on to say that “what is currently happening in the industry is still really existentially threatening”. They fear “that in the coming months many companies will cut production and cut jobs in the future,” said Fahimi. “That’s why we will put the question of how we can ensure competitive industrial electricity prices at the top of the agenda in talks with the federal government next year,” said the DGB boss, with a view to the planned continuation of Chancellor Olaf’s concerted action Scholz with unions and employers.
“The deeper the cuts in the value chain, the more companies in the value chain leave Germany, the more dramatic the domino effect will be,” said Fahimi. “And that’s not a question of two or three years. That’s a question of one to three quarters in 2023. That must be clear to all those responsible for politics.”
