Rising energy prices could disrupt social cohesion in Germany. People do not have the opportunity to pass on the price increases like companies do, emphasizes IG Metall boss Hoffmann. Demands for more financial support are getting louder.
In the debate about mitigating the high prices for energy and food, the IG Metall trade union has called for a price cap for gas and electricity. The first chairman Jörg Hofmann also spoke out in favor of a second energy price lump sum. In addition to employees, you also have to help pensioners and students.
The federal government must now send noticeable social signals, Hofmann told the German Press Agency. “Without affordable energy costs, there is a risk that social cohesion will break.” Unlike many companies, people could not pass on the massive price increases, said Hofmann. “At the same time, they have to experience how billions in taxes are supposed to subsidize energy companies, for example.”
The federal government is currently working on a new relief package. From the perspective of the SPD, it should primarily support people and families with low and middle incomes as well as pensioners. The next meeting of the concerted action by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, employers and trade unions will take place in mid-September. The SPD politician had launched the round because of the high inflation.
The sharp rise in energy prices would “massively overwhelm” the less wealthy sections of the population, write the GdW Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies, the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations VZBV and the Municipal Utilities Association VKU in a letter to Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck. “An overloading of the economic and social conditions in our country must be avoided at all costs,” it says. The planned, temporary introduction of the reduced tax rate on gas deliveries is a correct first step that needs to be accompanied by further measures.
The associations propose “very short-term” relief to limit (rent) ancillary costs as well as a flat-rate and socially graded energy aid for low-income households, regardless of their type of housing. There must be additional liquidity support and insolvency protection for affected companies.
“More and more people are coming to the consumer centers who are desperate because they can no longer pay their bills,” says VZBV board member Ramona Pop. “It is all the more important that the federal government adopts another aid package, in particular to support private households with low incomes in a targeted manner.” Rising energy prices should encourage energy saving, according to VKU Managing Director Ingbert Liebing. “However, the current prices, the extent and timing of the new burdens are overstating the financial possibilities of many consumers.” Noticeable relief is needed quickly for lower and middle income groups far into the middle of society.
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil spoke out in favor of passing on crisis profits from corporations to people with low incomes. “We can redistribute random profits from large companies to people with an income of 1,500, 2,000 or 3,000 euros,” said Klingbeil of the Funke media group. “It’s also a question of social cohesion in our society. Everyone has to do their part so that we can get through this challenging time well.” At the start of the Lower Saxony SPD’s election campaign, Klingbeil spoke out in favor of introducing a limited excess profit tax. He got to know Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the FDP in the coalition negotiations as someone “who is open to one or the other good argument, and I’m counting on that now”.
Green party leader Ricarda Lang told the Funke newspapers that the relief package should be available “soon”. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert recently made a similar statement. FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr was skeptical about possible one-off payments in the Funke newspapers. Like Hofmann, the head of the Verdi union, Frank Werneke, also demanded payment of a new energy flat rate. This should be 500 euros and also go to pensioners as well as students and beneficiaries, Werneke told the “Rheinische Post”.
The general manager of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, called for a simple and unbureaucratic procedure. “The easiest way would certainly be a temporary allowance based on income limits and the number of children,” he told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”.
Half of the German citizens are in favor of tax cuts as relief because of the high energy prices. This is the result of a survey by the opinion research institute Civey for the newspapers of the Funke media group. According to a preliminary report, 51 percent of respondents called for further tax cuts. 34 percent wanted an extension of the 9-euro ticket, 32 percent an expansion of social benefits. When asked about the current greatest concern in view of the rising energy prices, 61 percent of the participants stated that they feared a lack of political solutions.