reliefs
Heil advocates new direct payments from the state
Hubertus Heil is convinced that the gas and electricity price brake will benefit many private households. photo
© Britta Pedersen/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Is the state aid sufficient in the energy price crisis? The Minister of Labor will continue to monitor the situation in the new year. The existing instruments of the state are not enough for him.
Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) advocates new possibilities for direct state payments to the citizens of Germany. “For the future, the technical prerequisites for socially differentiated direct payments to citizens must be created,” Heil told the German Press Agency in Berlin.
In their coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP had already announced the development of a mechanism for direct payments – for climate money to compensate for rising CO2 prices. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) announced last summer that it would take at least 18 months to collect the necessary data such as tax identification and account numbers for such direct payments to all citizens.
Energy crisis and war against Ukraine
Heil now also linked the plans to state aid in the face of the energy crisis and the Russian war in Ukraine. In the past few months there have already been one-off payments in the basic security and the energy flat rate to pensioners. The lump sums have not yet been launched as socially differentiated direct payments because such a payment mechanism does not yet exist.
“But for the future we will need such a mechanism for direct payments so that we can relieve the burden quickly and precisely in times of crisis,” said Heil. “That’s why the Minister of Finance is now creating the technical prerequisites for using such instruments in the future.”
Regarding the state’s current crisis measures, Heil said: “The main thing now is to let what we launched before Christmas take effect.” The gas and electricity price brake will benefit many private households and help industry and business to secure jobs.
Many gas and electricity customers can expect relief from the price brakes from March. The benefits should also apply retrospectively for January and February after the start. In addition, taxes and duties have been reduced, said Heil.
More relief
The minister did not rule out further aid after the previous crisis packages. “We managed to bring the labor market through this crisis in a stable manner,” he said. “That was not a matter of course.” At the same time, the relief packages would have stabilized the economy “and kept our society socially cohesive”. The government will not allow the country to be divided by the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Everything else depends on the development,” said Heil. “We have to keep discussing and reassessing the situation.”
The SPD politician emphasized that it had been possible to completely do without Russian gas, Russian coal and Russian oil. “Securing the energy supply is a huge achievement that should not be underestimated at all, economically and socially.”
He further emphasized that politicians should not only do crisis management. “Because the crisis will be overcome, but the structural challenges must not be left undone,” said the minister. “We have three major tasks: advancing digitization, making our industrialized country climate-neutral and finding answers to demographic change.” His goal is to align labor market and social policy in such a way “that we can do it in Germany,” said Heil.