Bremen’s Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) has called on his party’s parliamentary group to provide more support for small and medium-sized companies in the energy crisis and to protect them from possible bankruptcies. In addition, an electricity and gas price brake should also be developed for these companies, according to the head of the Senate in a letter to SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich.
“In the last few weeks, in a large number of discussions with the self-employed, craftsmen and small companies, I have encountered the great concern that I will no longer be able to cope with the foreseeable dramatic increase in energy costs in the short term,” the mayor’s letter to WELT explains. He is convinced “that by involving small and medium-sized companies in the considerations for an electricity and gas price brake for citizens, a faster and pragmatic way of support could be found,” writes Bovenschulte.
The SPD parliamentary group wants to adopt its demands for a third relief package from the federal government to mitigate the drastic increase in energy prices at a closed conference this Friday. In a draft resolution, direct payments for those on low and medium incomes, pensioners, students and recipients of social benefits, a nationwide valid 49-euro ticket and an increase and expansion of housing benefit have been mentioned.
The introduction of an “electricity/gas price brake” for the basic supply of energy is also under discussion. After that, private households would receive a yet to be named number of kilowatt hours at a state-subsidized basic price.
The then foreseeable significantly higher market prices would only have to be paid for the additional energy requirement. A mechanism that Bovenschulte would like to see applied to small and medium-sized businesses in view of the thousands of imminent bankruptcies, for example in the bakery trade.
For his part, Mützenich urged the federal government on Thursday at the start of the SPD parliamentary group meeting to make a quick decision on the third relief package from the traffic light coalition. According to the SPD parliamentary group leader, it has to be put together in the course of this week and be available in time for the start of the Bundestag’s budget week, which begins next Monday.
The traffic light parties have been debating the exact content of the third relief package for weeks. The parliamentary groups of the Greens and FDP are also advising on the planned relief until this Friday.
The work on a third relief package would soon be completed, said Chancellor Scholz after the exam in Meseberg. Finance Minister Lindner announced “a massive package for relief across the board”.
Source: WORLD
A decision is expected to be made at a meeting of the coalition committee scheduled for the weekend. In addition to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner, it also includes the heads of the coalition factions in the Bundestag and the three traffic light parties.
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