Chancellor Karl Nehammer has commissioned Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (both ÖVP) to examine a variant for cost limitation – namely the proposal by the head of the economic research institute, Gabriel Felbermayr, for a cap on the electricity bill. Nehammer rates this idea as “interesting”, the Federal Chancellery informed the “Wiener Zeitung” and the “Kleine Zeitung”.
Felbermayr has argued that in view of the skyrocketing price, households should be relieved of part of their electricity bills – i.e. that they get more favorable conditions for part of their electricity requirements, but have to pay the high market prices for the rest.
Mikl-Leitner puts government under pressure
The argument about relieving household electricity customers came to a head last week. After the Federal Chancellor had defeated the SPÖ’s demand for an electricity price cap in the National Council, Lower Austria’s governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) called for plans from the federal government. On Saturday, Styrian Governor Christopher Drexler (ÖVP) also demanded a course correction. Like the mayor of Vienna, Michael Ludwig, he campaigned via the “Wiener Zeitung” for a “dialogue” between the federal government and the federal states and the energy industry and noted that there should be “no dogmas” in crisis situations.
Nehammer: “No bans on thinking”
Now the Chancellor is obviously giving in. “I have always said that there is no ban on thinking when it comes to relieving people of high energy prices,” paved the way for a compromise on Saturday evening. Finance Minister Brunner should first “check carefully” and make calculations with the Wifo boss about the effectiveness of his proposal and the costs of the plan. The result will be discussed in the crisis cabinet.
Nehammer still rejects the SPÖ’s demand that the state should intervene directly on the high electricity price.
Video: The rising energy prices trigger political conflicts, also in the government – and within the ÖVP itself.
Source: Nachrichten
