Party leaders concept
The left wants to nationalize energy companies
09/10/2022, 07:49 am
It’s time “that we regulate the market,” say the party leaders of the left, Wissler and Schirdewan. With their paper called “Socialize energy companies”, they want to show ways in which ailing energy companies like Uniper can be transferred to state hands.
The party Die Linke will discuss a concept for the nationalization of energy companies at their board meeting this weekend in Rathenow. The party chairmen Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan drafted the paper with the headline “Energize energy companies” with the help of lawyers, the editorial network Germany (RND) reported. “In order not to leave the energy transition to the self-interests of private companies, the transmission grid should be transferred to public ownership,” the RND quoted from it.
According to the report, the ten-page concept shows ways and possibilities of a “full nationalization” of companies that are active in the energy sector. In addition to the electricity giants RWE, EnBW, Eon and Vattenfall, this also includes electricity network operators such as 50Hertz, Amprion, Tennet and TransnetBW. The legal options for nationalizing the ailing energy supplier Uniper, which was previously the largest German importer of Russian natural gas, are discussed as an example.
“Energy suppliers are saved with a lot of money, which is correct, but they are not held responsible,” Wissler complained in an interview with the RND. “Instead of allowing the majority of people to pay for the mistakes of others with the gas surcharge, companies that can no longer fulfill their social mission should be taken over by the public sector.” Specifically, Wissler spoke out in favor of nationalizing Uniper.
According to the RND, the party leadership’s concept also includes strategies for the “remunicipalisation” of companies that have been privatized in recent years. “The aim is to reverse the privatization of previously public-law tasks and assets and bring them back into municipal ownership,” the paper is quoted as saying, which mentions the areas of energy, water and health care.
“Stop wasting tax money”
Schirdewan told the RND that securing systemically important companies and strategic infrastructure such as gas supply is a state task. Since the market apparently no longer regulates anything when it comes to energy supply, it is time “that we regulate the market”.
“Electricity and heating networks, like large energy companies, belong in the public domain and under democratic control,” demanded the co-leader of the left. His party no longer wants to “squander taxpayers’ money to save the profits of stockholders, but to use it sustainably for the takeover of the corporations”.
On Friday, the German gas importer VNG, a subsidiary of EnBW, submitted an application for stabilization measures to the Federal Ministry of Economics due to the failure of Russian deliveries. At the beginning of July, Uniper also applied for government aid worth billions and argued with the stabilization of the energy markets.