Pioneers in Saxony: the first millions to phase out coal

Pioneers in Saxony
The first millions to phase out coal will flow

The federal government is cushioning the coal phase-out in the regions concerned with billions. The money will be used to create new jobs and improve the infrastructure. The first aid has now been transferred.

The billion dollar aid from the federal government for the coal regions is slowly starting. Seven projects have now started for around 80.5 million euros, as can be seen in a report by the managing minister of economics, Peter Altmaier. The CDU politician sees the structural change in the coal mining areas on the right track: “Many stakes have been set.”

The grand coalition had agreed to extract and burn the climate-damaging coal by 2038 at the latest to get off. In order to help the coal fields in East Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia with the change, up to 40 billion euros are to flow.

However, experts doubt whether the money is always used sensibly. For example, the economist Joachim Ragnitz said that municipalities also use the funding to build day-care centers or renovate local museums to attract tourists. But that does not necessarily serve the structural change, said the deputy head of the Dresden branch of the Ifo Institute.

The chairman of the IG BCE union, Michael Vassiliadis, was also critical. The structural change will only be successful “if we replace good industrial work with good industrial work. Too little of this has so far been seen”. EU state aid law curbs the promotion of new, climate-friendly industrial projects. “That has to change as soon as possible.”

Jobs and settlements

The federal government alone wants to create 5,000 jobs in the coal regions by 2028 by relocating all or part of the government. According to Altmaier’s report, 2140 positions have already been filled. A distinction is made between financial aid – that is 14 billion euros – and structural aid amounting to 26 billion euros.

By the end of August, 175 projects with a volume of 3.01 billion euros had been approved as part of the financial aid:

  • 1.183 billion euros are to flow into the Lausitz area in Brandenburg.
  • 498 million are planned for the Lausitz area in Saxony.
  • For the Central German district in Saxony, 336 million euros are earmarked.
  • 805 million euros go to the Central German district in Saxony-Anhalt.
  • For the Rheinische Revier it is 191 million euros.

The seven projects that have already started can only be found in Saxony. The federal government expects proposals from the federal states for structural aid. According to the report, however, he has already planned 40 measures under his own responsibility with a volume of 10.96 billion euros.

How quickly the funds flow and whether they really help to make up for job losses could also be of great importance for the planned traffic light coalition. She wants to “ideally” move the coal phase-out to 2030 for reasons of climate protection. Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer has repeatedly criticized this. His party colleague Hendrik Wüst, head of government in North Rhine-Westphalia, on the other hand, was open to an exit from coal as early as 2030.

According to the Ifo expert Ragnitz, the coal phase-out in the Rhenish Revier and the Central German Revier should be easier to cope with because of their central location. “But especially in Lusatia you have to say that it can be difficult.” The coal field near the Polish border is suffering from emigration and labor shortages anyway. A coal phase-out brought forward to 2030 is hardly manageable because the structural change requires investments with long planning times, such as transport routes or power lines.

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