BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil has defended the German relief plans against criticism from other EU countries. “It is also in the European sense that we are securing industry and jobs here in Germany,” said Klingbeil in the “FAZ Podcast for Germany”. “It’s good for Europe.” He warned: “The alternative would be for such industry, such companies to migrate to America, to China – we Europeans as a whole cannot want that.”
The defensive shield, worth up to 200 billion, with which the federal government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) wants to make energy cheaper for households and companies in Germany, has met with fierce criticism in Europe. Many EU countries criticize that not all states have the financial resources to finance such an approach and that the internal market could therefore be distorted.
Klingbeil said the criticism “surprised him a bit”. “There are many other European countries that are already implementing a gas or electricity cap, for example. They are further along than we are and now we are following suit.”/sku/DP/ngu