Greens and SPD disagree with Lindner
When Finance Minister Lindner announces the early end of the energy price brakes at the end of the year, he clearly does not yet have the placet of his government partners. Green Party leader Lang and SPD General Secretary Kühnert, for example, by no means see the early expiry a few months earlier as a done deal.
Despite Finance Minister Christian Lindner's announcement to end the energy price brakes, Green Party leader Ricarda Lang does not yet see any agreement between the government on this issue. It is currently only clear that the Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF) will be dissolved, the debt brake will remain suspended and the energy price brakes will be paid until the end of the year, Lang told the broadcasters RTL and ntv at the Green Party conference in Karlsruhe.
How financing will continue from 2024 onwards "is of course still being discussed within the government". Of course, the government has already discussed the energy price brakes, but there are currently many unanswered questions. "In the end, we have to look at an overall package and then see how we can get through not only this year, but also the next few years," Lang told the broadcasters.
Kühnert: "It is not a coalition decision"
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert also told the "Kölnische Rundschau" newspaper that he had noted Lindner's announcement "with astonishment". "That may be his opinion - but it is not a decision by the coalition." Whether there will still be energy price brakes in 2024 must now be negotiated politically. "The SPD believes this is necessary."
Lindner had announced on Friday that the government would not pay out the billions in state aid via the electricity and gas price brakes by the end of March 2024 as planned. They would be "terminated at the end of the year", he said on Deutschlandfunk radio. The German government introduced the price brakes last year to cushion the sharp rise in energy prices as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
They were financed by the Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF), which has a budget of up to 200 billion euros. However, the judges in Karlsruhe declared such special funds to be inadmissible alongside the regular budget. The WSF is therefore no longer available, said Lindner.
Despite Christian Lindner's proposal to conclude the energy price brakes at the end of the year, Alliance 90/The Greens, led by Ricarda Lang, remains skeptical about reaching a consensus on this matter within the government. According to Kühnert, SPD General Secretary, Lindner's announcement is not yet a coalition decision, and negotiations are required to determine whether energy price brakes will continue in 2024.
Source: www.ntv.de
