The prime minister has apparently recognized that it is not enough to always nag about Berlin. Now, however, he has to distribute the promised billion sensibly.
So one billion euros. With this sum, Markus Söder would like to help those Bavarian companies and associations that are particularly hard hit by the energy crisis. Why exactly this sum? That is a question that the Prime Minister did not answer conclusively when presenting his hardship aid. Could it be that the billion has something to do with the relief package that state head Stephan Weil (SPD) announced for Lower Saxony a few days before Söder?
Weil promised 970 million euros for it, in the middle of the state election campaign, you have to say that. A man like Söder, who always places his country at the top of the republic, naturally goes over it. And in Bavaria there will soon be an election. Nevertheless, beyond all calculations, the aid is an important message, especially for companies in the Free State.
If Söder wants his support for Bavarian cases of hardship to be understood as a signal “that we will not leave anyone alone”, then that shows that he has understood something: just pointing the finger at Berlin is not enough. Anyone who wants to be a “crisis manager and country father”, as Söder says about himself, has to act instead of demanding – even if the CSU boss rightly emphasizes that the main burden of this crisis lies with the federal government. Gentle pressure from Bavaria can’t hurt, everything is legitimate. But if the CSU keeps blasting the federal government with its anti-Berlin slogans, then in an already heated social mood that is not a constructive contribution to this crisis, but rather: destructive.
It is difficult to predict what the hardship case assistance can really achieve. Nobody knows the details yet and nobody knows how dramatic this crisis will become. What is good is that Söder does not present an all-round carefree package that (contrary to its usual habits) serves as many companies or areas of society equally as possible, according to the famous watering can principle. It would be fundamentally wrong if those who already have enough money to get through the crisis were to be considered again.