Teller Report

Electricity and gas: Finance Minister Lindner announces end of price brakes at the end of the year

11/24/2023, 3:56:10 PM

Highlights: Finance Minister Lindner confirms end of price brakes at the end of the year. It remains to be seen whether the 2024 budget can be passed this year. Interest expenses, for example, which were previously paid by the Economic and Stabilisation Fund, would have to be paid from the federal budget in the future. At the same time, Lindner announced structural decisions: financial aid to industrial companies would need to be compensated by a reduction in expenditure elsewhere. The doubling of aid for Ukraine would come from four to eight billion euros.

It had been indicated: After the ruling of the Constitutional Court, the traffic light lacks the money for a continuation of the gas and electricity price brakes. Now Finance Minister Lindner has confirmed the end of the measure in an interview.

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Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP)

Photo: IMAGO/KreativMedia Berlin / Marten Ron / IMAGO/Marten Ronneburg

Following the budget ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, the state electricity and gas price brakes will no longer be extended until March 2024, contrary to plan. They would be "ended at the end of the year," Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) told Deutschlandfunk on Friday. Whether this will also mean that the reduction in grid fees for the coming year will also be eliminated, Lindner left open.

According to Lindner, it remains to be seen whether the 2024 budget can be passed this year. The finance minister spoke of a very "ambitious timetable" in which a lot of things are coming up for the traffic lights. Interest expenses, for example, which were previously paid by the Economic and Stabilisation Fund, would have to be paid from the federal budget in the future. In this context, Lindner spoke of a double-digit billion euro amount.

At the same time, however, the Minister of Economy made it clear that the doubling of aid for Ukraine would come from four to eight billion euros. "There is no question of supporting Ukraine," the finance minister stressed. At the same time, Lindner announced structural decisions: financial aid to industrial companies would have to be compensated by a reduction in expenditure elsewhere. At this point, Lindner explicitly mentioned social spending.

beb/AFP