In August there were 718 insolvencies in Germany, 28 percent more than in the previous year. Big shoe retailers like Goertz have filed for bankruptcy. The energy crisis has companies and citizens firmly in their hands.
In Maybrit Illner’s political talk on Thursday evening on ZDF it was therefore “First price shock, now wave of bankruptcies?”. The moderator asked about solutions to the energy crisis. Sitting at the table were politicians Manuela Schwesig (SPD), Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Kathrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) and Johannes Vogel (FDP), as well as the Chairwoman of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Yasmin Fahimi, and the President of the Federal Association of Germans Industry (BDI), Siegfried Russwurm.
Russwurm sees Germany facing a massive recession. The BDI surveyed 600 medium-sized companies. “The results were scary,” he said. A third said they were in an existential crisis. Another 40 percent are under pressure. “20 percent are even considering moving their production away from Germany.”
Even the “typical middle-class patriot, who certainly doesn’t take such a decision lightly,” is considering leaving the country, said the BDI boss. Due to the poor prospects on the energy market, they would also consider this option.
DGB boss Fahimi took a look at the citizens: “We are all very concerned, in the economic sector, but also in private households. The water is high for all of us.” The energy crisis affects society at large: “Even someone who earns 3,500 euros gross is already in the advance bills with a whole monthly salary.” Economic theory debates would not help, but strong support from the state.
Schwesig for energy price cap
The coalition partners Göring-Eckardt and Vogel see this help at least on the way. Three relief packages have already been launched, said Göring-Eckardt. “And if we need a fourth package, there’s a fourth.”
Manuela Schwesig criticized the relief package: “There is a lack of concrete help for the economy.” As with the corona crisis, support is needed for companies. An energy price cap is needed, said the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. “I think you can discuss many models, but I don’t think that’s going to go well for a few more weeks,” said Schwesig. The companies and citizens are “water up to their necks”. Looking at the advance bills, she said: “As a master baker and citizen, you ask yourself, how am I supposed to manage that?” Schwesig again campaigned for her proposal to cap the energy price for basic needs for one to two years. It is important that the state accompanies this now, “otherwise we will lose support and we don’t want that”.
FDP Vice Vogel spoke out in favor of the model of an electricity price brake: “We have to make ourselves energy independent in the long term. And in the medium term see where we can get cheap energy from.” In addition, regulatory errors in the electricity market would have to be corrected, said the FDP man.
BDI boss Russwurm criticized the planned tax-free one-off payment to employees of 3,000 euros. “Not all companies are the same. There are some that earn well, but there are also companies that have their backs against the wall.” Within the 100,000 industrial companies, there are different situations that have to be dealt with.
DGB boss Fahimi demanded: “We need a double track. Stabilize purchasing power by increasing real wages. And then there are political measures such as a second energy price flat rate, which must reach the people this year.”
The price of energy must go down, “but that’s not done overnight with a snap of the fingers,” said Vice President of the Bundestag, Göring-Eckardt.
Vogel expects a reform of the energy market. “I don’t like that as a liberal in the perfect world, but the energy market isn’t a perfect world either. This is partly poorly planned planned economy. You have to do that now.” Special times called for special measures.
BDI boss Russwurm took the same line: “As an economic liberal, the thought of setting prices really hurts me. But the electricity market is a regulated one. The electricity price has not been negotiated on the market.” However, the intervention must be limited in time. “I sincerely hope that we all understand this as a special situation for a limited period of time, and then we agree again that a functioning market is the best pricing mechanism imaginable.”
At the same time, renewable energies would have to be expanded in order to become energy independent, said Prime Minister Schwesig. The BDI boss countered: “We have to say goodbye to the dream that Germany can become energy self-sufficient. That is wrong by an order of magnitude.” You can store a high percentage of the electricity market yourself, but you need better storage capacities. “But the fact that we replace the part of the energy that we import today, apart from electricity, with our own production, there is still a lot of water running down the Spree.”
On the talk show, Schwesig was also asked about her long-standing support for the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, which ultimately did not go into operation due to the Russian attack on Ukraine. The Prime Minister said that with today’s knowledge, she would no longer take this stance. The climate foundation, which has been the subject of criticism, was founded in early 2021 to circumvent the threat of sanctions by then US President Donald Trump against the constitutionally approved construction of the line.
Schwesig received support from the DGB chairwoman and former SPD general secretary Fahimi. This said that it is not just about Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s responsibility. It was the decision of the Federal Republic that Germany got out of nuclear power and coal and defined gas as a bridge to the age of renewable energies. “Now to act as if some lonely decision was made unilaterally out of self-interest, that’s really not correct.”
Dependencies for important resources – such as gas from Russia – led to existential crises, Vogel made clear. “The next one is just around the corner with Xi Jinping, and there are also dependencies. We have to do that, too.” Vogel is certain: “We should learn never to make ourselves dependent on people like Putin again.”