Balmost daily protest makes even the most angry enraged citizen tired. In any case, on Tuesday afternoon only about three dozen people attended the demonstration under the motto “Habeck in Saxony? It’s enough!” in front of the State Chancellery in Dresden.
Inside, the Federal Economics Minister from the Greens had been conferencing with representatives of the Saxon economy since the morning, then he took part in the cabinet meeting of the black-green-red government. The relationship between the traffic lights in Berlin, especially the Greens, and Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) is rather tense. However, Kretschmer has often backed Habeck, for example after his heavily criticized trip to Qatar to get gas for Germany.
“A lot of what you do is important to this country. I don’t have to say ‘fantastic’ straight away,” said Kretschmer, addressing Habeck after the talks at the joint press conference. In the morning he had suffered the concentrated frustration of Saxon entrepreneurs, which Kretschmer described as an “encounter with reality”.
It’s not as if Habeck has no idea about the peculiarities of the Saxon economy. Hardly any federal minister travels so often in East Germany, which is quite an achievement compared to the previous activities of many federal governments. The basic problems of the local economy – small-scale structure instead of large companies, low equity ratio and therefore particularly susceptible to crises – are quite familiar to Habeck.
Solutions are needed
This is precisely why clarity and, above all, solutions for the difficult situation, for which the companies are not responsible, would have been necessary quickly. But there was no announcement from the traffic lights in Berlin, like those made by Angela Merkel and Peer Steinbrück very early in the financial crisis. As a result, uncertainty grew as a result of the sharp rise in electricity and gas prices, against which company owners, craftsmen or the self-employed have sometimes been protesting loudly on the streets for weeks, which dubious political freeloaders exploit for their own purposes.
Habeck assured in Dresden that Germany was “well prepared for the winter”. The gas supply is secured, the storage facilities are almost completely filled even without Russian gas. The situation is therefore now “better and more stable than could have been foreseen at the beginning of the year”. Now it’s about lowering the prices. That will come as soon as the infrastructure – for example in the form of liquid gas terminals – has been expanded.
“Until then, the state must ensure that the economic substance is preserved.” The means for this is the gas price brake, which is to be discussed this Wednesday at the Prime Ministers’ Conference. Habeck assured that it would be closely aligned with the proposals of the expert commission. He took with him to Berlin the explicit request from Saxony to activate the brakes for small and medium-sized companies as early as January and February, and not just for industry.
Michael Kretschmer, for his part, was very optimistic about the outcome of the Prime Ministers’ Conference. It will not happen that the country heads parted like last time without a result. “That was a big mistake,” said the head of government. “The population needs hands-on action.” But both the federal states and the federal government had moved towards each other in advance. There should then also be clarity in the concrete implementation of the so-called relief packages, which Kretschmer sees as a prerequisite for their own aid programs in the countries. The CDU politician wants to avoid unnecessary and parallel programs like in the Corona pandemic in this crisis.
open differences
Of course, differences between Dresden and Berlin remain. These were discussed openly, Habeck and Kretschmer assured. These include the continued operation of nuclear power plants, the mining of lithium in the Ore Mountains and gas production in Germany, which Kretschmer, unlike Habeck, considers urgently necessary. Kretschmer also advocated unbureaucratic relief for companies. You can take a closer look at it in five years.
Habeck replied that although he would have preferred a blanket brake on gas prices, such a thing could not be enforced under European law. When Kretschmer demanded that Germany should get gas from Russia again after the end of the Russian war against Ukraine, Habeck replied that it was Putin who had stopped the deliveries for political reasons. Russia has proven to be an “unreliable supplier” and uses “gas as a weapon”.
Saxony’s CDU wants to clarify the relationship with Russia at a regular party conference at the weekend. The war has split the party base: The fronts are particularly noticeable between members of city and country associations. In a leading motion on energy security, from which the “Sächsische Zeitung” first quoted, it is said that Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law, is causing great damage.
The European Union and the international community would have to persuade Russia to give in. Russia must stop fighting, leave the occupied territories and pay for war damage. War criminals must also be held accountable. Governments have also made mistakes in energy policy in the past. But now everything must be done to restore energy security and lower prices. Changes to the lead proposal are still possible.
#Robert #Habeck #Dresden #Saxon #reality