9 euro ticket and petrol discount
Cabinet approves billions in relief package
04/27/2022, 12:19 p.m
In the cabinet it is now through: With the so-called relief package, the federal government wants to cushion the high energy prices – among other things through a one-off payment of 100 euros per child and a temporary reduction in energy tax. All this is not enough for the Union.
Due to the sharp rise in energy prices, the federal cabinet has decided on a relief package worth billions for citizens. Among other things, the energy tax on fuel is to be reduced for a limited period of three months.
Employed persons who are subject to income tax are to receive a one-time lump sum of 300 euros gross to compensate for the high energy costs. The child benefit is to be increased once by 100 euros per child. From June, a 9-euro monthly ticket for local and regional transport will also be valid nationwide for three months.
The heads of the coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP agreed on this relief package at the end of March. A first package had already been decided in February, which, among other things, provides for the abolition of the EEG levy on the electricity bill from July. Next, the Bundestag advises on the plans.
Union demands tightening of the package
High-ranking Union politicians called on the traffic light coalition to further tighten the relief package. There must also be relief for pensioners, said Union parliamentary group manager Thorsten Frei of the “Bild” newspaper. Frei called it a “major mistake by the government to leave pensioners alone with the rapidly increasing energy costs”. He wants to “correct this in the parliamentary process,” said the CDU politician.
CDU Vice President Andreas Jung called for the “problem of price increases to be tackled at the root” by “relieving taxes and levies”. Measures that are structurally necessary anyway and are therefore right for an unlimited period of time, such as reducing the electricity tax to the European minimum, are a priority. CDU social expert Dennis Radtke said that the traffic light left pensioners “out in the rain” with their politics.