“It will not work”
FDP general secretary is critical of industrial electricity prices
08/14/2023 10:56 am
The economics minister wants to cap electricity prices for industry, but the chancellor and the finance minister have so far been unenthusiastic about it. Bijan Djir-Sarai, Secretary General of the FDP, is now also speaking out. He sees the measure as a threat to fair competition.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai is very skeptical about the introduction of an industrial electricity price planned by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck. “Personally, I find it very difficult,” he said in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. “We’re talking about subsidized prices here.” In the market economy, however, prices have a signal effect, emphasized Djir-Sarai.
This effect is lost if prices are artificially stabilized or lowered, which in turn leads to distortions of competition. According to the FDP General Secretary, there will also be companies that will benefit from the reduced electricity prices and others that will have to finance it – “that’s why I’m very skeptical”.
“We cannot subsidize every form of economic activity – that will not work,” Djir-Sarai said. Instead, the traffic light coalition must focus on improving the framework conditions for the business location. For the FDP politician, this includes promoting investment and reducing bureaucracy. “These are the questions that, in my view, urgently need to be the focus and not the subsidization of prices.”
Common solutions are crucial
When asked how he imagines the three traffic light parties working together in the two years left until the next federal election, Djir-Sarai said: “Debates are part of it, including intensive debates, as long as they are factual.” The coalition partners are “different parties with different ideas”. At the end of the day, however, the joint solutions that are achieved are decisive.
According to Habeck, a reduced industrial electricity price should apply for a limited period of time to companies that produce in a particularly energy-intensive manner and are heavily exposed to international competition. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner, but also Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have so far been skeptical about the plan. Party leader Saskia Esken fundamentally supported the project, as did other politicians from the SPD and the Greens.