How Germany will help the Germans on their bills
Scholz explained that he will pay the December monthly gas bill for all households and small and medium-sized enterprises, with an outlay of 66 billion euros for private bills of households and small businesses, plus 25 billion in subsidies for the large industry. The article by Tino Oldani on Italia Oggi
Power wears out those who don't have it, said Giulio Andreotti. True. It is equally true that power strengthens those who have it. Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, is proof of this. Described for months as lacking in charisma and indecisive about everything, a sort of nullity in comparison with Angela Merkel, mistress in Europe as well as in Germany, in recent weeks Scholz has undergone a surprising metamorphosis, which must be acknowledged: first he made a solemn speech, stating that from now on the cardinal principle of his government will be "Germany first of all". Then he followed up on words with deeds, to the point of imposing his leadership within the traffic light coalition, where the Greens and the liberals quarrel on every issue and he acts as a mediator, coming out the winner.
Among the strong decisions, of great social impact, the first concerns the minimum wage, which the Scholz government has raised to 12 euros per hour, a measure in force since October 1st. Previously, it was € 9.82 (Merkel era), with a first touch up to € 10.45 from last July 1st. According to a study by the Institute for Economic and Social Research (WSI), 6.64 million workers benefited, of which 2.25 million full-time, 1.81 million part-time and 2.29 million holders of a mini-job.
The study has verified that the wage increase has brought benefits not only in the poor regions of the former East Germany, but above all in the western ones, the most populous and industrialized, such as North Rhine-Westphalia (1.3 million beneficiaries) and the Bavaria (930,000 beneficiaries). As for the big cities, Berlin had the highest number of beneficiaries (305,000 people, 17.8% of the total), followed by Hamburg (160,000), Munich (107,000) and Cologne (94,000). Analysts agree that this wage increase comes at the right time and will help the underprivileged cope with the steep rise in energy and food prices. In fact, Scholz has earned the gratitude of millions of families, and it is no coincidence that his party, the SPD, won 33% of the regional elections in Saxony on 9 October.
No less strong were Scholz's decisions on two other fronts: the fight against the energy crisis and the high price of gas on the one hand, and foreign policy on the other. To help German families and businesses in the face of the sharp rise in bills, Scholz has launched a maxi-plan of 200 billion euros . And, despite the flood of criticism from all over Europe, in the lead those of Mario Draghi and of the 15 countries that, together with Italy, have been asking the EU for a price cap on gas for months, the German Chancellor has gone straight. Thus, without waiting for Brussels to agree, after months of postponements, a compromise measure called the "dynamic price cap", launched yesterday and considered by many to be yet another "supercazzola" of the Euroburocracy, Scholz explained that the first 91 billion, of the 200 allocated, will be spent by the state in two phases. First it will pay the monthly gas bill in December for all households and small and medium-sized enterprises, with an outlay of 66 billion euros for private bills of families and small businesses, plus 25 billion in subsidies for large industry.
From March 2023 to the end of April 2024, the second phase: German households will pay 12 cents per kwh for the first 80% of gas consumption calculated on the average of last year. Industries, from 1 January 2023 to the end of April 2024, will pay 7 cents per kwh for the first 70% of consumption, again referring to the average of the previous year. In a nutshell: for a family that consumes 20 thousand Kwh of gas a year, the bill without discounts would be 4,108 euros a year. With the help of the government, the annual bill will drop to 2,742 euros, with a saving of 1,366 euros. A refreshment considered valid both in terms of anti-inflation and as a support for consumption. The Scholz package was welcomed by the industrial world as a harbinger of a "new normal", which allows for planning for the future and consolidating the leadership of German industry in Europe. In fact, with these measures, Germany has already introduced its own ceiling on the price of gas on the private market, ignoring the contortions of the Euroburocracy on the price cap. And it did so with a shadow budget, outside the official accounts, not caring about EU rules. If Germany does, why not copy it?
Proving equally skilled in terms of image, Scholz did not miss the opportunity offered to him when the revived Greta Thunberg, an icon of environmentalism, said that nuclear power plants are better than coal in the transition to the green. So the chancellor decided that the three German nuclear power plants, destined to close on December 31, will remain in operation until April 15, 2023. A compromise solution, which silenced the two quarrelsome government allies: The Greens who wanted them. close, while the liberals wanted to keep them open.
In addition to ignoring the European Union on gas, Scholz is doing the same in foreign policy, especially in relations with China, where Xi Jinping was confirmed in power for another five years. In her 16 years as chancellor, Merkel had been to China five times. And Scholz wasted no time in following his example: on November 3-4 he will be in Beijing, accompanied by a large delegation of entrepreneurs. Before the visit, he said that he considered the economic decoupling from China, which was requested with emphasis by the United States, and consequently also by Brussels, "wrong". A line in favor of "open markets", that of Scholz, on which Germany has built its economic power. A line that, according to some, could irritate the US and split the EU. Hot topic, for now under trace.
Article published on italiaoggi.it
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/come-la-germania-aiutera-i-tedeschi-sulle-bollette/ on Sun, 23 Oct 2022 05:38:11 +0000.