Energy supply: Söder speaks of “punitive action against the south” – Bavaria

It has long been part of the standard program of every cabinet member, the persistent scolding of Berlin. Who else brought it to perfection, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU). Once again he complained about the traffic light government’s supposed “anti-Bavaria strategy”. After the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he even spoke of a “deliberate punitive action against the South” in the area of ​​energy supply.

Five new power lines are planned, said Söder, and none of them should lead to Bavaria. The hydrogen network should serve the north and the south, “if at all”, should be connected last. And Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to introduce new electricity price zones at the expense of people and industry in the south.

And that despite the fact that Bavaria is massively expanding renewable energies – “everyone will still be looking around to see what we’re doing there” – and despite the “great acceleration in grid expansion”. Of course, there is no longer any talk of the CSU’s long-standing blockade of power lines and the expansion of wind power.

Instead: “A conscious attempt is made to depend on the south and to make a new distribution of wealth in favor of the north,” said Söder. “And at the same time we pay the state financial equalization.”

Bavaria is the country that is growing the most, both in terms of population and industry, said Söder. But he has the feeling that the state’s electricity requirements have been calculated unfairly or incorrectly. All this breathe “deep green ideological spirit”.

Vice Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger (free voters) is completely with the coalition partner. Habeck’s goal is to supply the coal-fired power plants with hydrogen, but not the industrial centers in the south. And that despite the fact that Aiwanger made hydrogen his favorite topic months ago. “I wish that the federal government would treat us fairly,” he says.

In terms of the right to vote, by the way. Even if the Free Voters are not represented in the Bundestag, Aiwanger criticizes the planned reform. This could be at the expense of the CSU if elected direct candidates are not allowed to take up their mandate if the party does not meet the five percent hurdle nationwide. In the last federal election, the CSU was just above it. “It can only be a bad joke, but jokes are apparently the new way of government now,” said Aiwanger.

Söder again announced a lawsuit against the electoral reform

That is not a right to vote for everyone, but only for certain parties, said Söder. In the past few years, when it was still part of the federal government, the CSU had always resisted reform. Of course, Söder calls it different. “We would have been open to many suggestions, but what is coming now is unconstitutional.” Bavaria would be cut off from German development, said Söder. He again announced a lawsuit.

As proof that so many things are going better in Bavaria, the cabinet decided on Tuesday to increase the so-called master’s bonus from 2,000 to 3,000 euros – retrospectively as of January 1st. This means that the master’s training is actually free of charge, said Söder. Three quarters of the course and examination fees have so far been covered by the Meister-Bafög, costs of up to 3000 euros remained, which are now covered. The goal is equality of academic and vocational training, said Söder.

According to the State Chancellery, successful graduates of professional training to become a master craftsman or an equivalent qualification receive the master craftsman bonus. Successful graduates of a technical school or academy as well as candidates for certain equivalent examinations are also rewarded with the master craftsman bonus. That would affect around 30,000 graduates a year.

Economics Minister Aiwanger called this “not just a sign that vocational training is important to us, but a concrete measure”. And they feed the man or woman “perhaps often better than if you study and don’t know exactly what”.

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