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Many people in the population are groaning under the rising prices, which is why the federal government is relieving the burden on citizens with a large package. But one major issue is being forgotten, criticizes economic economist Marcel Fratzscher: climate protection.
On Sunday, the heads of the traffic light coalition agreed on a third relief package. It contains, among other things, one-off payments for trainees and pensioners, Hartz IV will become the so-called citizen benefit and child benefit is also to be increased. The well-known economic economist Marcel Fratzscher evaluates the measures in a statement and criticizes one aspect in particular: “The federal government’s third relief package contains good elements, but is half-baked on important issues, distributes funds too sparsely and ignores climate protection.” Fratzscher also criticizes this in the 355th episode of the podcast “important today”: “We don’t realize: climate change is a permanent crisis that will affect us in the coming decades. And it’s getting worse rather than better.”
The federal government forgets the climate crisis: “We are running into a social catastrophe”
In an interview, he also does away with the cliché that protecting the environment automatically means making sacrifices: “To me, that shows a complete misunderstanding of what climate protection is all about.”
Fratzscher is the President of the German Institute for Economic Research and Professor of Macroeconomics in Berlin. He also advises the Federal Ministry of Economics. In his opinion, too many people would equate wealth with material wealth: “When you think about what’s important to you, it’s more like, is my family healthy? Social peace, an intact environment. […] We want to protect these things.” This does not automatically mean that you have to give up driving or traveling. Because the technology to be able to do both in a climate-friendly way is already there, says the economic expert. That’s why he also criticizes the fact that there is no immediate successor to the 9-euro ticket: “Isn’t mobility also part of a basic service that should be free?”
Economic economist Marcel Fratzscher: Mobility is part of the basic service
Whether Germany succeeds in the ecological turnaround quickly enough will be decisive for how quickly the country recovers economically. Because the climate crisis will significantly exacerbate the social imbalance. 40 percent of Germans have no reserves and no savings, according to the economist. These 40 percent are particularly affected when energy prices rise or expensive surcharges are decided: “What we are experiencing at the moment, higher prices for fossil fuels, most of which we have to import, means a massive loss of prosperity.” That will only change with the large-scale expansion of domestic, renewable energies.
But there is also good news, says Marcel Fratzscher: “Renewable energies – wind, solar, biomass – are already much cheaper than nuclear power, coal, oil and gas. And the faster we succeed in this transition, the faster energy prices will go down.”
© TVNOW / Andreas Friese
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Source: Stern
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