Union Peak and SPD wants to discuss further measures to stimulate the economy at the coalition committee in the evening. Several participants from the Union side focused on the issue of energy costs.
Union faction leader Jens Spahn (CDU) told Tagesspiegel: “I expect decisions on industrial electricity prices and gas-fired power plants for affordable energy.” Politics should especially help energy-intensive industries and medium-sized businesses. “Electricity prices must fall,” Spahn demanded.
The coalition committee around Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) is the leading body in which the leadership of the CDU coalition parties is closer, CSU and the SPD and its two government factions clarified strategic questions and attempted to resolve conflicts between the partners.
What is meant by energy
Also CDU Secretary General Carsten Linnemann and CSU leadership Markus Soder driving energy policy decisions. It is important to reduce energy costs beyond previous decisions, Linnemann told “Handelsblatt”.
In principle, the coalition agrees with this. On January 1, lower, state-subsidized electricity prices for industrial sectors with very high energy consumption will be implemented for three years. In the future, new gas-fired power plants will be used as backup if electricity needs cannot be met by renewable energy – for example due to a lack of sunlight and no wind blowing.
Söder demanded that new gas-fired power plants be located primarily in southern Germany. “The heart of the German economy beats in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Anyone who ignores this risks causing an economic collapse for the entire country,” he told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. Southern countries are pushing the expansion of renewable energy vigorously.
What other topics are still pending?
Other topics are likely to include the government’s stance on the end of registration of new combustion engine cars. So far, the target is 2035, but the European Union wants to cancel it.
Söder called on the SPD to surrender. “Of course we are committed to the expansion of electromobility,” he said. “Nevertheless, our automakers need more technological freedom and openness in international competition after 2035.” Because: “The automotive industry is the backbone of our economy.”
There is also a long list of other open questions, for example the pension package the government has decided on, which has come under criticism from younger EU members.
32 business associations called on the Union and SPD to halt the pension package planned in the Bundestag. In a letter to the leaders of the CDU/CSU and SPD parliamentary groups, which was made available to Bild, the association criticized the pension program as an unsustainable project that will cost an additional almost 480 billion euros by 2050. The letter was signed by, among others, the large and foreign trade association BGA, the employers’ association Gesamtmetall, the construction association ZDB, the trade association HDE, the association of family entrepreneurs, the mechanical engineering association VDMA and the Federal Association of Medium Enterprises (BVMW).
When asked if pensions would be an issue on the coalition committee, he answered Spahn: “The Chancellor has emphasized that this matter will still be discussed in the coalition. However, I do not expect an immediate decision.” The debate is about time after 2031. “Basically we want to think about that.” Therefore, a new reform commission must be formed.
When to expect results
If there are concrete results at the coalition committee, they will most likely be announced at a press conference on Friday. Here’s how coalition leaders handled things at their last meeting in October.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251113-930-285880/1
