Scholz "very confident" about agreement with countries at the next meeting

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) assumes that at the next top-level meeting with the federal states, an agreement on the distribution of costs for the relief measures in the energy crisis will be reached. Deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said on Wednesday in Berlin that the chancellor was "very confident" that this would succeed. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) emphasized that the tax estimate for the coming year must first be awaited as a basis for decision-making. This should be available on October 27th.

Scholz and the heads of government of the federal states spent four hours on Tuesday discussing the distribution of the costs for the third relief package by the traffic light government and the announced “defense shield” of 200 billion euros with a gas price limit. There were no results. There is also no specific date for the next meeting.

Only after the tax estimate could there be "a concrete financial agreement between the federal and state governments," Lindner told journalists in Berlin. This is "normal". After that, however, “the necessary decisions would be made quickly and in good time for the next year”.

When it comes to finances, the federal and state governments are primarily arguing about the cost allocation for the third relief package from the beginning of September, worth 65 billion euros. Country representatives criticized that they were not included in advance and are now supposed to bear around 19 billion euros of the costs, in particular because of planned tax relief.

Hoffmann pointed out that after the meeting on Tuesday evening, Scholz was satisfied with “the tone and manner in which they spoke to each other there”. However, it had become clear "that at the moment there are still a few prerequisites for an agreement". In addition to the tax estimate, she also mentioned the results of the deliberations of a commission of experts on models for the planned gas price brake. If both are present, "an agreement could be reached very quickly".