In the discussion about a further relief package, the signs in the coalition point to agreement. In an interview, FDP boss and finance minister Lindner is optimistic, and something like a thumbs up comes from the SPD.
The traffic light coalition is apparently approaching an agreement on a third relief package. After the SPD board, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner was now also optimistic. The FDP boss told the “Rheinische Post” that he considered a third relief package in the “low double-digit billion amount to be achievable”. The SPD party executive wrote on Twitter in the evening that the third relief package was in the “final votes”. On Thursday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed that a third package would come.
In the “Rheinische Post” Linder named three priorities. “First it’s about the needy, second about the working middle and third about the energy-intensive economy. We need suitable instruments for each of these three areas,” said Lindner.
Citizens’ allowance and housing benefit would help the needy, the inflation adjustment against the cold tax progression would protect the middle. There will have to be targeted economic aid for energy-intensive companies, said the finance minister. However, Lindner rejected special help for pensioners. “Fortunately, pensions have increased significantly this year,” said the FDP politician. Like everyone in the basic security system, needy pensioners would have received a special payment, and there is also a heating subsidy for housing allowance. Pensioners also benefited from the abolition of the EEG levy on the electricity bill.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized in Berlin on Thursday that the relief package should alleviate the great pressure that is weighing on many citizens and companies. “We are confidentially discussing what the package looks like in the government. The question of justice is crucial for the country to hold together in this crisis.” The SPD had pushed for a housing benefit reform.
Lindner made it clear that the third package should be a joint project of the traffic light coalition. “We shouldn’t stick any party colors on the instruments,” said the minister. He himself had caused irritation in the coalition because he saw no scope for relief for a long time, but then proposed a package with a volume of ten billion euros – which was primarily intended to combat cold progression. This should save 48 million people an average of 192 euros. Concrete measures would be an increase in the basic allowance for income tax and a slight increase in child benefit and child allowance. However, critics complained that Lindner’s proposals would particularly relieve high incomes.
A short-term relief will be the reduction in value added tax for gas. The federal government wants to reduce this from 19 percent to only seven percent for a limited time, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced. This would relieve people more than they would be burdened by the gas surcharge. The tax cut should apply as long as the gas surcharge applies – according to the current status from October 2022 to the end of March 2024.