Criticism from the EU of “defense shield”: Lindner defends billions in relief

Status: 03.10.2022 23:08

The German 200 billion aid package against high energy prices does not meet with approval everywhere in the EU. Some countries and the Commission have criticized the plans. Finance Minister Lindner now defended them as “appropriate”.

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has defended the energy relief package for citizens and companies worth up to 200 billion against international criticism. “The measures are appropriate in proportion to the size of the German economy and the term up to 2024,” said Lindner on the sidelines of a meeting of the euro finance ministers in Luxembourg. They correspond to what other countries in Europe have introduced and are therefore “certainly not oversized”.

Lindner was reacting to criticism from other EU countries such as Italy, Spain and Luxembourg. They fear a distortion of the EU internal market because not all member countries are able to launch such aid packages.

Criticism also from the EU Commission

Warning voices are also coming from the EU Commission. In a guest article for the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” and other European newspapers, the EU Commissioners responsible for industry and business, Thierry Breton and Paolo Gentiloni, write: “In order to prevent the different leeway that the states have in their respective national budgets, lead to internal upheavals, we have to think about common European instruments.” The German aid package raises questions. You have to create joint support mechanisms like in the corona pandemic – they cited the Sure program as an example, which made short-time work programs possible during the pandemic through cheap EU loans.

The aid package called the defense shield is intended to protect consumers and companies from high energy prices as a result of the Ukraine war. Among other things, the prices for gas and electricity are to be partially capped. There should be liquidity and equity support for companies. How exactly all these measures are to be designed remains to be seen.

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