“Small and medium-sized businesses and skilled trades are the core of our economy and employers for many people in this country,” said the parliamentary group leader.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin From the point of view of the Greens, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) should provide funds as quickly as possible to expand energy cost aid to small and medium-sized companies. “Small and medium-sized businesses and skilled trades are the core of our economy and employers for many people in this country,” said Green Party leader Katharina Dröge of the German Press Agency. Therefore, the Minister of Finance must now quickly promise sufficient funding.
The priority must now be to help companies with the expansion of economic aid through this autumn and winter, said Dröge. “The question of financing must not stand in the way of this.” When asked how high the financial requirement was estimated, a spokesman replied that the Greens parliamentary group in the Bundestag considered “a double-digit billion amount to be necessary so that the aid can develop the necessary strength”.
The FDP criticized the demand: “Robert Habeck and the Greens do not yet know exactly what they need money for. But they don’t do it for less than two-digit billions. Apparently it’s easy to do politics with someone else’s money. This is not a serious way of dealing with taxpayers’ funds,” party circles told the German Press Agency.
“Two weeks ago, the Greens and Ms. Dröge decided on a coalition paper that envisages the debt brake in 2023. It was obviously not meant to be taken seriously. The Greens are thus jeopardizing trust in coalition decisions.”
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Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) recently proposed opening up the energy cost containment program for trade and the service sector, which had previously been aimed at industry. The program supports companies that cannot pass on sharply increased energy costs to their customers due to international competition.
So far around 2500 companies have registered for it. The more a company is affected by the high energy costs, the higher the subsidy should be. The SPD agreed to Habeck’s plans, which would benefit bakeries, for example.
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