In view of the rising energy prices in Germany, the federal government wants to get the next package of laws to relieve the burden on citizens and companies up and running quickly.
“The federal government will introduce the necessary draft laws for the implementation of the measures into the legislative process in such a way that appropriate and timely consultation before the planned entry into force is also guaranteed in the Bundesrat,” says the proposed resolution for the Prime Ministers’ Conference on Tuesday. The editorial network Germany (RND) reports on the paper.
However, the federal government, which already presented its plans for the relief package III on Thursday, leaves some financing questions unanswered in its paper, such as the modernization and expansion of public transport. Instead of the increase in regionalization funds by EUR 1.65 billion compared to the previous year, as requested by the Prime Minister, the federal government is offering, according to its own proposed resolution, to increase this “by EUR 1.5 billion annually”. The condition: the states must agree to contribute “at least the same amount”.
For a follow-up offer of the 9-euro ticket, the transport ministers are asked to determine the details in a timely manner. From the point of view of the federal states, the financing “must be considered beyond the general development of regionalization funds”, the federal government must therefore “contribute the additional amounts that are necessary to be able to implement permanently cheap and attractive tariff models”. However, the federal government left this demand unanswered in its paper.
The federal government also reacts evasively to the question of refugee financing. “The federal and state governments will bring the agreed talks on refugee financing to a close in a timely manner,” says the proposed resolution. You are already participating “now in the costs of the countries in the amount of 5.5 billion euros annually”. The federal states had demanded a permanent contribution from the federal government to the refugee-related costs retrospectively from January 1, 2022. The financial participation must include the volume that the federal government has provided “in the years up to 2021”.
The paper also leaves open how the housing benefit reform between the federal and state governments will be financed, which will ensure significantly more beneficiaries. The states are demanding that the federal government bear the costs. According to the draft resolution, however, the federal government only offers to pay another one-off heating cost subsidy. “The financing of this heating cost subsidy is provided by the federal government,” the paper says verbatim. BAföG recipients and trainees with state training aid should also benefit from this. “It should also benefit those who receive BAföG or federal training aid.”
In addition to the measures for the relief package agreed by the traffic light coalition, the federal states are demanding tax cuts for electricity and energy taxes and a suspension of tax advance payments for companies in need. As in the Corona times, the obligation to file for insolvency is to be suspended in order to prevent a wave of bankruptcies from companies. In tenancy law, the federal states want new regulations for more protection against dismissal in hardship cases.
