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Relief for citizens? This package has three glaring flaws

If the coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP now agrees on a third relief package worth 65 billion euros, then that may seem necessary from a social and economic point of view.

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Relief for citizens? This package has three glaring flaws

If the coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP now agrees on a third relief package worth 65 billion euros, then that may seem necessary from a social and economic point of view. The volume doesn't look completely out of proportion either, given the severe energy price shock.

You have to give this point to the traffic light. But most governments have managed to spend plenty of money. And on the debit side there are at least three glaring flaws.

First, there are the many imponderables. What citizens and businesses need now is as much planning security as possible in these uncertain times. But what does the traffic light do? First set up a commission of experts to advise on gas market regulation. And promises an electricity price brake as a key relief instrument.

But prices and quantities remain as vague as the financing: wanting to tax "chance profits" may seem like a tempting idea, but whether the project will clear the European political and constitutional hurdles remains uncertain.

Finding technically clean legal solutions is also likely to be a major challenge - especially for a federal government that was already overwhelmed with the comparatively simple gas surcharge.

Secondly, there is the inefficiency: the remaining fiscal leeway must be used efficiently because there will not be many relief packages of this dimension. Therefore, it cannot be a question of relieving the burden on today's generation as comprehensively as possible.

Precisely because it can still be extremely important in this crisis to remain financially capable of acting within the limits set by the debt brake, it would be important to specifically relieve those who are really in need. This certainly includes many students and pensioners, commuters and midi-jobbers - but by no means all of them.

Third, the state should refrain from doing anything that only aggravates the problems it claims to be fighting. In concrete terms, everything should be avoided that does not support purchasing power in general, but specifically the demand for energy, whether directly through cheaper consumption or indirectly through subsidies for mobility.

The increased commuter allowance, the new local transport ticket and the postponement of the CO₂ price increase can all be welcomed. But right now they come at the wrong time.

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