In view of the energy crisis, the Free Voters are calling for further steps by the federal government to curb energy costs and inflation. The measures decided are wrong and the previous help for business and private households “just a drop in the ocean,” said parliamentary group leader Florian Streibl on Wednesday at the beginning of the autumn meeting of the FW MPs in Swabian Nördlingen. As an order of magnitude for further economic aid in Bavaria, Streibl named the 13 billion euros that flowed from federal and state aid programs to companies in the Free State during the Corona crisis. During the exam, the FW parliamentary group also wanted to talk about “what we can do from Bavaria, apart from making appeals to the federal government,” said Streibl.
However, the action plan that the FW MPs want to adopt at their retreat is almost entirely limited to demands in the direction of Berlin – and largely includes well-known positions in the parliamentary group. The 20-point paper requires, for example, that the three remaining German nuclear power plants continue to run “in continuous operation” instead of just in reserve, as Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) is planning, to whom Streibl attested “almost religious fanaticism” on the subject of nuclear energy. In addition, the FW parliamentary group is calling for taxes on electricity, gas and heating oil to be reduced, the commuter allowance to be increased, the so-called cold progression to be compensated for and prices for basic private needs to be capped.
Other topics of the three-day meeting of MPs will include the building materials crisis and the shortage of skilled workers. In addition, the Free Voters should already be looking at the state elections, which will take place in autumn 2023. In the next week and a half, the other parliamentary groups will also meet at various locations in Bavaria for their traditional autumn retreats.