"We are surprised at how stubbornly the Greens are sticking to the gas levy," says the SPD

If the coalition partners don't get at each other's hair on the home stretch, they will launch another relief package in the coming week. This is intended to alleviate the financial hardship caused primarily by the sharp rise in energy prices.

"In view of the current and expected cost increases, we do not have time to publicly discuss a third relief package for citizens for much longer. We have to act now," said the Vice Chairman of the SPD parliamentary group, Dirk Wiese, WELT AM SONNTAG. “I am optimistic that we will have an agreement in the coalition next week on how we can relieve people in a targeted manner. With a clear focus on low and middle income earners.”

Time is also pressing because the Bundestag has the first reading of the budget draft on the program in the first week of sittings after the summer break from September 5th. The budget for 2023. Before MEPs deal with it, they want to get an overview of the costs for further relief. So they need to sort these out before September 5th.

The schedule is even tighter because the SPD wants the third relief package to be ready before the closed meeting of its parliamentary group, for which the MPs will meet in Dresden on Thursday and Friday next week. An agreement should therefore be reached by Wednesday, most likely as a result of a meeting of the coalition committee. On Tuesday and Wednesday next week, however, the cabinet members will meet for a retreat at Meseberg Castle near Berlin.

Gas will be significantly more expensive in autumn, which is why Olaf Scholz promises a new relief package. Economics Minister Habeck now wants to review his plans for the gas levy again and prevent individual companies from enriching themselves.

Source: WORLD

Accordingly, the traffic light partners only have a small time window to put together the next package. “There have already been intensive discussions. As a precaution, everyone working on it was told to reserve the weekend for it," says coalition circles: "Theoretically, a coalition meeting is possible from Sunday evening."

That would require that the SPD, the Greens and the Liberals agree on how people want to be relieved. But they are not yet.

One point that is likely to cause controversial discussions is the financing of the third package. The clarification of this question largely depends on how big it will be this time and which population groups can count on government grants.

The coalition partners agree that households that are particularly hard hit by high energy prices should receive money from the state in a more targeted manner, and less according to the watering can principle. It is also clear that direct aid, i.e. direct and one-off payments, should have priority over tax relief. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said on Wednesday evening at a public dialogue in Magdeburg that support by means of tax rebates is complex, can hardly be understood by many employees on the wage slips and is therefore not perceived as real help.

A total of 30 billion euros was made available for the two previous relief packages. “It looks good on the revenue side, we can afford another package. If necessary, we will adopt a supplementary budget for this, ”says coalition circles. However, there is still no agreement on the question of how the additional burdens should be financed. It would be possible to take on more debt for this. However, this is met with skepticism by the FDP.

Variant two would be to increase income, for example by levying the excess profit tax brought into play by the SPD and the Greens. This is intended to cover those companies that are earning above average in the current crisis situation. Like the oil companies. The FDP does not want to support that either.

The gas surcharge to be paid by private households and companies from October could further increase the rate of inflation in Germany. Now politicians want to put together a third relief package. But who will benefit from the relief?

Source: Welt / Achim our

The coalition partners are keeping a low profile on the details of who is to be relieved and how – the risk is too great that one of the three parties would be annoyed by prematurely leaked information and could withdraw commitments already made.

In addition to the different ideas of the SPD and Greens on the one hand and the FDP on the other, there are also differences between the Social Democrats and the Greens. Because one could also relieve the burden on the citizens by lowering the so-called gas levy or by not having to pay it at all by consumers.

Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has announced corrections to the levy, which customers should use to support gas importers. "But how stubbornly the Greens insist that gas customers should pay for it surprises us," says an SPD MP.

Another source of conflict is between the federal and state governments. There should not be an extension of the tank discount, nor of the 9-euro ticket. But a new, also heavily discounted ticket is under discussion, which could apply nationwide from January 1st. However, according to the will of the federal government, the federal states should participate financially.

But they only see the federal government as responsible, as the state transport ministers made clear at a special conference on Friday. "This decision is disappointing and not helpful," criticized SPD parliamentary group leader Detlef Müller. "Always pointing to the federal government is inappropriate for the situation."