Status: 08.07.2022 2:20 p.m
The Federal Council has given the green light to lift the controversial advertising ban on abortions. In addition, the BAföG maximum rate will be increased.
The Federal Council has voted on some laws. Important decisions at a glance:
At the end of June, the Bundestag had already decided to delete paragraph 219a in the penal code. The Federal Council has now also approved the deletion. In future, doctors will be able to provide detailed information about the possibilities of terminating a pregnancy without having to fear criminal prosecution. Previous judgments are overturned.
Section 219a had previously stipulated that abortions may not be advertised. As a result, doctors could not provide factual information about abortions on the Internet without risking criminal prosecution.
So that misleading and inappropriate advertising for abortions will remain prohibited in the future, the so-called Medicines Advertising Act was also amended. The law has so far regulated misleading advertising of medical products in other areas. Abortions without a connection to illness are now also included.
BAföG-Maximum rate will be increased
Pupils, trainees and students can receive more BAföG from the coming winter semester. The Federal Council approved the corresponding law. The maximum subsidy rate increases from currently 861 euros to 931 euros, in particular due to an increase in the housing allowance.
In addition, the state training aid is to be made available to more young people by increasing the allowances by 20.75 percent. The reform also raises the age limit for promoting training to 45 years. Most recently, 89 percent of students in Germany were not entitled to state training aid.
Legislative changes due to gas crisis
The Federal Council has also approved important legal changes in the gas crisis – namely in the so-called Energy Security Act, Ensig for short. On the one hand, more coal-fired power plants should be used to generate electricity instead of gas. On the other hand, federal aid for ailing energy companies such as Uniper will be made easier. The law also enables the federal government to react quickly to a further shortage of gas supplies and even higher prices.
The price increases for energy are also reflected in the law: it now provides for a levy system as an option, so that price increases in gas for energy suppliers can be passed on more evenly to customers – as a replacement for the rules that were possible up to now. The federal government can also prescribe measures to save energy.
The Federal Council has also approved a comprehensive package of laws for a faster expansion of green electricity from wind and sun. Country representatives welcomed this and at the same time called for improvements in one or the other place. The share of electricity generated from renewable energies in electricity consumption is to be increased to at least 80 percent by 2030; it is currently just under 50 percent. In order to achieve the goal, two percent of the entire federal area on land should be designated for wind turbines – that’s more than double. The federal states are now to be legally obliged to provide more space. The Bundestag had previously approved it.
The Bundestag also gave the green light for lower interest rates. In practice, this means that less interest will be due on subsequent tax payments than before. Specifically, retroactive to January 1, 2019, only 1.8 instead of 6.0 percent per year must be paid. However, the interest rate from which taxpayers benefit in the event of a refund from the tax office also falls to the same extent.
There are interest rates for income tax, corporation tax, property tax, sales tax and trade tax. They become due if an additional tax payment or refund is delayed by more than 15 months. In the first case, the Treasury benefits, in the second, the taxpayer. The federal government expects that the change will result in the state taking 2.46 billion euros less this year.
After the Bundestag, the Bundesrat also approved the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. On Friday, the chamber of states decided not to call the mediation committee on the law that the Bundestag had just passed shortly before.
The law is the prerequisite for the acceptance of corresponding protocols by Germany. It was not subject to approval in the state chamber.
On the other hand, a special tax on high profits from companies as a result of the Ukraine war failed in the Federal Council. Several countries had requested this. However, the motion by Bremen, Berlin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Thuringia to introduce an excess profit tax did not find a majority in the state chamber.