Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) Bas has criticized the relief packages of the traffic light coalition in the fight against the energy crisis. “I would have liked more differentiation in order to specifically help the weakest,” said Bas of the “Bild am Sonntag”.
She was open to another, fourth package that would help poorer citizens in particular. “In order to cushion the worst of it, especially for people on low incomes, we must be prepared to do more if the crises progress.”
The SPD politician, who holds the second highest state office, was alarmed about the social situation in the country: “Many people in Germany have not been able to spontaneously go out to eat in a restaurant or watch a film in the cinema for a long time. Many older people are considering whether they can afford a piece of cake at the bakery because otherwise their pension will not last until the end of the month. I find that dramatic.”
Bas appealed to the federal government to also protect tenants against high energy prices.
Bas also wants to quickly push through the electoral law reform to reduce the size of the Bundestag, despite resistance from the Union parties. “We need the lid up,” Bas said. She would like to see the broadest possible parliamentary majority. “Just to be honest, if we wait, we may not get electoral reform again,” Bas added.
In the next election, the Bundestag must return to an “acceptable size, with a maximum of 598 MPs”, Bas told the “BamS”. Due to the so-called overhang and equalization mandates, there are currently 736 members of the German Parliament.
Bas acknowledged that electoral reform was a “tough subject”: “You know the saying that frogs don’t like to drain their own pond.”
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