BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck has dampened expectations of the planned gas price cap. One cannot subsidize the gas price as much as it was in 2021, said the Green politician on Friday on Deutschlandfunk. “And not for a very long time. Gas and energy as a whole will cost the German economy more than it did in the very good years.” Also, not every price increase can be avoided. “A certain burden will be taken, but the entire burden will certainly not be able to be taken,” said Habeck. “Not even with this gigantic 200 billion euros.”
On Thursday, the traffic light coalition announced a new “defense shield” of up to 200 billion euros to support consumers and companies because of rising energy prices. The controversial gas levy is off the table – there should be a gas price brake for that. At least for part of consumption, the prices should be capped in such a way that private households and companies are not overwhelmed. What that means exactly is still unclear. A commission is to make proposals by mid-October.
The money for the gas price cap should be paid out “quickly and unbureaucratically”, said Habeck. The high costs would be taken up through debt and would “have to be paid off by us taxpayers”. It should not happen with the gas price cap that the gas price is regulated down so that no more gas is saved, stressed Habeck. Consumers would have to continue to save gas./als/DP/men