If companies have to shut down because the EU Commission is “too good and too noble” to change the electricity price design, “then it’s a kind of attack on the entire European competitiveness,” he said on Ö1 radio.
Similar to the fiber manufacturer Lenzing, which has to reduce its production in Burgenland due to the high energy price, many different industries and company sizes would think about such measures, Mahrer said on Saturday in the Ö1 series “Im Journal zu Gast”. The social partners had been warning since spring that such a situation could arise “if action is not taken at European level in good time”. The Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Labour, ÖGB, Federation of Industry and Chamber of Agriculture are all “highly alarmed because we have never had a situation like this”.
Many export companies are no longer competitive on the international market “because nobody pays the prices that the companies have to pass on globally,” said the Chamber of Commerce President. It is about energy-intensive companies in the metalworking sector, the paper industry and cardboard boxes and the chemical sector. These are not only large companies, but also include medium-sized and small bakeries, carpentry shops and commercial and trading companies.
Mahrer accused the EU Commission of having thought about the sanctions “only with one half of the brain”, namely without the necessary accompanying measures, and “the will-o’-the-wisps of the Commission are happily continuing”, for example with the planned “price cap” for Russian pipeline gas. This gas is cheaper than liquefied LNG. “The issue is the high price on the spot markets of the stock exchanges, and not primarily the Russian pipeline gas. I think sanctions should be decided again, that’s the actual idea of the commission, and not something that would help us. “
It would be important to decouple the electricity price from the gas price, Mahrer demanded. If that takes a certain amount of time, “because this is an exceptional situation, we’re talking about a war-like economy where normal market mechanisms don’t work, the Republic must of course support private households, employees and companies.” The social partners had already suggested doing something in the area of cost-of-living compensation for households and companies in the spring. A package is up to the European Union for approval, “although one has to say that the budget framework that has been decided on is far too small.”
Mahrer did not want to comment in detail on the industry wage negotiations – “I trust that the industry partners will not overwhelm each other, and I assume that at the end of the day – this time perhaps more difficult than usual, but nonetheless – solutions will be found that are the employees are good and give the companies room to continue operating in the future.” Could there also be strikes this fall? “I hope not,” said Mahrer.
FPÖ economic spokesman Erwin Angerer criticized Mahrer’s statements, speaking of a “pure diversionary maneuver from one’s own failure”. “This shifting of responsibility to the EU is merely a sign of political weakness and a lack of implementation capability, because the black-green government and its Chamber of Commerce have also been sleeping in the pendulum clock on this issue,” said Angerer in a broadcast.
Source: Nachrichten
