uhen a chancellor interrupts his vacation, big things are at stake. Olaf Scholz insisted on announcing the rescue operation for Germany’s most important gas importer, Uniper. Because his Green Economics Minister could of course have done it himself, Scholz put a more comprehensive promise in the rescue bag.
In the pandemic, it paid off politically for him – when he was still finance minister – to think big right from the start. His martial “bazooka” aid packages laid the foundation for the election victory. Even now he is thinking ahead, the SPD will soon have to defend power in Lower Saxony.
What will really become of Uniper?
Scholz is only more moderate in his choice of words. “You’ll never walk alone” is his new, internationally understandable magic formula. The clear message: beyond the at least EUR 15 billion support for Uniper, the traffic light does everything that is necessary to ensure that the rising energy costs do not cause anyone insolvable problems.
Scholz specifically mentions the housing benefit reform already agreed in the coalition agreement and the conversion of Hartz IV into citizen benefit. The red-green concerns of the heart should come into force at the beginning of 2023, Scholz confirms – and promises that the services will not only be higher, but that more people will benefit. Much more is planned, the chancellor hints. The FDP will have trouble fulfilling the expectations raised here again with unnecessarily grand gestures without conflicts with the debt brake.
The actual reason for Scholz’ appearance should not be pushed into the background. Even market economists will have some understanding for the entry into the Finnish state-owned company Uniper in view of the growing imbalance. As with Lufthansa, the federal government has negotiated good conditions for itself.
Whether things will turn out as well for taxpayers as the airline’s case is showing is unclear. While it was clear during the pandemic that at some point we would have to fly again, Uniper’s gas business does not seem to have a secure future.
