The magic of the beginning of the traffic light coalition is gone, now the troubles of the plain are showing: there is a dispute. About the next relief package, about loyalty and about the gas surcharge. The sound gets sharper.
The tone intensified in the traffic light coalition: Deputy Green parliamentary group leader Konstantin von Notz countered SPD criticism of Economics Minister Robert Habeck on Sunday evening with an attack on Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “The Chancellor’s poor performance, his lousy poll numbers, memory gaps at Warburg and his responsibility at Nord Stream 2 will not be cured by disloyal behavior and resentment in the coalition,” von Notz wrote on Twitter, playing among other things on the debate about the Role of the former Hamburg mayor in the Cum-Ex affair.
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil and deputy SPD faction leader Dirk Wiese had previously attacked Vice Chancellor Habeck. Klingbeil accused the Minister of Economic Affairs of technical errors in the gas levy in “Zeit online”. “The Habeck principle goes like this: appearances ready for film, technical implementation questionable and in the end the citizen pays for it,” said Wiese of “Bild am Sonntag”. SPD, Greens and FDP are currently arguing about, among other things, what the next relief package should look like because of the high energy prices. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the cabinet meets for its retreat in Meseberg.
But there is also a dispute about the gas levy. Politicians from the SPD and FDP are demanding that Habeck revise the concept before the government meeting. “Manual mistakes should be eliminated before the cabinet meeting,” said Christian Dürr, leader of the FDP parliamentary group, in the “Bild” newspaper. The gas surcharge should “under no circumstances lead to extra returns for companies”.
“We have to be careful that state intervention doesn’t make the energy crisis worse,” Dürr warned. “The aim of our measures must be to ensure the energy supply in autumn and winter.” It is therefore of essential importance “to increase the supply of energy, among other things by extending the service life of nuclear power plants”.
The SPD member of the Bundestag Ralf Stegner told the “Bild” that the cabinet meeting in Meseberg was “the right place and the right time to renegotiate the gas levy”. The currently planned levy is “unfair: Because it offers corporations that are not in need and have made millions in profits for years the opportunity for extra profits. At the same time, it exacerbates social hardship among millions of consumers.”