16 October 2024 – With the climate contracts, German Economics Minister Robert Habeck is once again only handing out selective subsidies totalling 2.8 billion euros to just 15 companies. A further 10 billion is to follow. Meanwhile, the cost of natural gas for companies and consumers is rising elsewhere, in some cases dramatically, due to new amortisation rules.
German climate contracts: All just election campaign gifts?
On 15 October, the Green Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Robert Habeck, once again distributed subsidies worth 2.8 billion euros for electricity-intensive companies as part of the German climate protection agreements. In a second round of tenders, at least another 10 billion euros are to be distributed. The biggest criticism: while just 15 companies in Germany are to benefit from the 2.8 billion euros, aid for the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises is still in short supply.
No sustainable effect through individual funding
A recurring accusation levelled at the Federal Minister of Economics, whose ministry all too often only funds ‘lighthouse projects’. This is because Habeck has recognised that steel, glass, ceramics and chemicals can generate a lot of public attention due to the supposedly high number of employees. However, the lighthouses have hardly any lasting effect on the economy as a whole. The planned-economy subsidies to individual companies even penalise small and medium-sized enterprises, which end up bearing the costs of the subsidies.
Is Habeck distracting attention from other construction sites with lighthouse projects?
And while Habeck draws attention to his lighthouse projects, significant increases in energy costs are coming through the back door for companies and end consumers who are not subsidised. This is because the new depreciation rules for natural gas grids in Germany, announced by the Federal Network Agency under the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy at the end of September 2024, could see grid fees for private and commercial gas customers rise by more than 50% in some cases, according to current calculations.
Effective relief for SMEs and citizens is still lacking
Effective relief for SMEs and citizens looks different. Individual subsidies do not favour the economy as a whole, but only create the illusion of competitiveness. Because while production is supposedly becoming cheaper for the companies favoured by climate protection agreements, the purchasing power for these products continues to decline elsewhere.
Thorsten Gerber: ‘Dirty election campaign at the expense of German SMEs’
Thorsten Gerber, CEO of the Gerber Group, said today: ‘Another prime example of how dirty election campaigning is being conducted here at the expense of German SMEs. Your green-communist ideology and planned economy Mr Habeck cannot go on like this.’ He continued: ‘To put it in simple and easy-to-understand terms, Mr Habeck, you are slowly getting on my nerves. And it’s probably not just me.’ Turning to the federal government, Thorsten Gerber added: ‘The only one of you three who seems to be using his brain logically is Christian Lindner. You, Mr Habeck, and not even your boss, the Federal Chancellor, have understood the principle of a market economy or social market economy.’
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