Traffic light government: DIHK calls for cheaper energy – Merz sees traffic light at the end

The German economy has formulated its expectations for the economic meetings of the traffic light coalition planned for Tuesday. It demands that the federal government reduce energy costs for all companies and not just for industry. “A central task for politicians is to ensure a long-term, stable and competitive energy supply for the broad range of companies,” said the President of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), Peter Adrian, to the “Rheinische Post”.

Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz does not believe in concrete results from the events. “Nothing will come of it except for the SPD, the FDP and the Greens, who will then propose another 100 billion to take on additional debt,” said the CDU chairman in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”.

Each coalition partner with their own economic initiative

The coalition is currently arguing over economic policy. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has invited people to an industrial summit in the Chancellery on Tuesday. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) are left out. The FDP parliamentary group – with Lindner as a guest – wants to meet with business representatives on the same day. After Scholz’s announcement, Habeck, in turn, proposed a debt-financed “Germany Fund” to promote investments.

Merz described it as “kindergarten games” on ARD that the coalition partners had not coordinated their economic policy proposals with each other before they were announced. “The fact that the Federal Chancellor announced such an industrial summit in a government statement without first involving the Economics Minister and the Finance Minister in the preparation of such a summit is in itself a process that is indicative of the state of the federal government,” said the Union Chancellor candidate.

Merz sees the end of the traffic light government

The government is effectively no longer able to act, said Merz. “It’s at the end, and we’ll have that impressively confirmed again in the next few days by these summits and whatever they’re called. Unfortunately, there’s nothing left to do.”

The political scientist Wolfgang Schroeder attested to Chancellor Scholz’s helplessness. “The Chancellor seems very helpless, weak in assertiveness and is literally being paraded by the disloyal behavior of the coalition partners,” said the politics professor from the University of Kassel to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “Scholz thereby delegitimizes himself for every election campaign. How do you want to demonstrate assertiveness when you have your own coalition partners parade you every hour?” The SPD, Greens and FDP started as a progress coalition, Schroeder continued. “They wanted to do better than the ossified grand coalition before. However, what we are experiencing now is a state of complete disruption, an inability to communicate and an approach in which everyone only looks at how best to get out of this constellation for themselves can.”

The Saarland Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger (SPD) appeared angry about the behavior of the traffic light coalition members in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”. “A coalition is not about juxtaposing party programs for your own benefit, but rather about layering ideas on top of each other and allowing politics to emerge from them.” It’s about jobs and people who have hopes but also worries. “And there has to be an answer to that. I hope that we can pull ourselves together now. To be honest, I expect it too.”

Relief from energy prices is a major demand

Signals for competitive energy prices are now needed, Rehlinger continued. “We need a ramp-up in electromobility. We need to get bigger faster and investments need to be made in Germany.”

DIHK President Adrian named “our proposed assumption of network fees by the Climate and Transformation Fund” as the first important step towards easing energy prices. However, further steps are necessary to improve the specific energy supply for the future. “Lower prices for a few large companies and bureaucratic support programs alone are not a sufficient concept.” In addition to the issue of energy, the issue of reducing bureaucracy is a priority for the economy. “It has to be concrete in the companies that it really becomes easier in everyday life – not just in Sunday speeches or theoretically in the legal gazette,” said Adrian.