The German government agreed this Sunday on a new aid plan for purchasing power and businesses, in the context of high inflation, through measures totaling 65 billion euros. A large part of them aims to compensate for the rise in the price of energy.
At midday, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, presented several of these measures, including the establishment of a check paid to students and pensioners and an increase in the housing allowance. He also announced that he wanted to use windfall profits from some energy companies to lower household bills. “Producers simply take advantage of the very high gas prices which determine the price of electricity”, observed the Chancellor during a press conference.
The announcement of this new plan, negotiated since the beginning of the summer, has been postponed several times, illustrating the friction between the three parties of the coalition in power for nine months.
Germany “will be able to cope” with winter
The head of Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, deemed it likely that inflation reaches 10% by the end of the year, a first since the 1950s. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, the government of Olaf Scholz has already released two trains of household aid. But some of these measures have recently expired, such as the fuel rebate and the popular subscription at 9 euros per month in all public transportoff high-speed lines.
Germany “will be able to face this winter” and ensure its energy supply despite the drying up of Russian gas deliveries on which its economy is highly dependent, the Chancellor also assured this Sunday.
“Russia is no longer a reliable energy supplier (…) The federal government prepared for this eventuality from the beginning of the year,” the leader told the press, stressing that thanks to the diversification sources of supply and the filling of gas stocks, the country was in a position to face a prolonged stoppage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.