Germany’s Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has promised a change in the planned gas levy. The change is intended to prevent companies that do not need it from an economic point of view from benefiting from these additional payments by gas customers. “That’s why you have to work hard on the problem now. And we do that too,” said the Green politician tonight on ZDF’s “heute journal”. “We will solve this problem.”
The challenge is to ensure the supply of gas to the population and companies, “and that was in danger,” explained Habeck. Direct state aid to ailing companies is not a solution. “Permanent financing by the state is not a business model, and that’s why we had to choose this allocation,” he explained. “We have to see that these companies, which actually don’t need access to this levy, don’t get it either.”
The Greens politician warned against judging the good filling level at the gas storage facilities as a relaxation. The stored gas should “be withdrawn again as a reserve” in a possibly tense situation in winter – but how stable the situation will then be, “no one can now predict”.