Federal government: An end to the gas surcharge would be best for everyone – opinion

A few days ago, Robert Habeck invented the term “must-go opposition”. The Vice-Chancellor thus criticized, by no means unjustly, the Union faction for their rather clumsy moaning about Habeck’s gas levy. But gradually a must-go coalition is forming in Berlin. Signals are now coming from all three traffic light parties that indicate that the unfortunate surcharge will be cleared before it is planned to be introduced. It would probably be for the best for everyone involved. The coalition would have one less issue and the opposition might have a little more time to engage constructively in the debate.

Only the real problem would not be solved: where the money is to come from to save the struggling gas importers and thus ensure heated living rooms. If the gas customers don’t pay for it themselves, then it’s up to all the taxpayers. To the extent that the gas surcharge becomes less likely, the chance of compliance with the debt brake also decreases. Translated into day-to-day political business, this means: In order for the Green Economics Minister Habeck to get rid of a worry, the Liberal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has to shoulder it.

The fact that Lindner is now also publicly questioning the gas levy is certainly not evidence of a new phase of friendship between the two ailing cabinet colleagues. While Habeck recently expressed legal concerns about the project, Lindner is now asking the “economic sense”. So, firstly, he once again explicitly blames the Economics Minister for the whole disaster. And secondly, Lindner should pay a lot for the exit strategy that he is offering Habeck here. It will probably result in a deal: the FDP will move on the debt brake if the Greens move on nuclear power. For Robert Habeck, the next must-go discussion is already looming.

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