BUndescancer Olaf Scholz (SPD) has reiterated his promise to relieve the burden on citizens in view of the increased prices. “We will do everything to ensure that the citizens get through this time well,” Scholz said on Thursday at the federal press conference in Berlin. Nobody should be faced with unsolvable problems. “You’ll never walk alone,” said the Chancellor, repeating a sentence he had already said in July. It is particularly about people “who have very little”, no income from work and no savings. Therefore, you have to do something about housing benefit and citizen benefit. The Chancellor also spoke about tax relief measures for people with middle incomes. He had already spoken to Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner (FDP) about this.
Ukraine war “greatest challenge”
Scholz held out the prospect of a third relief package, but emphasized that the first two packages with a total volume of 30 billion euros had not yet been fully implemented. The Chancellor does not share the concern that price developments will lead to unrest in Germany. Germany is a welfare state, the welfare state must also be “effective” in this situation. Citizens know it won’t be easy. “We are preparing and helping the citizens,” said Scholz. “If that message is clear, I’m sure we’ll hit it off.”
Scholz described the war in Ukraine as the “greatest challenge”. He emphasized that the German government had already started preparing for an energy crisis before the war broke out. In December, shortly after his election as chancellor, he asked the Federal Ministry of Economics what to do if, contrary to all forecasts, Russia was no longer a reliable supplier. Nobody had asked this question before, according to Scholz. Preliminary work has already been done for the construction of liquid gas terminals. Scholz was already involved when he was mayor of Hamburg, he said. In his own words, the Federal Chancellor assumes that the planned liquid gas terminals on the German North Sea coast will be connected this winter.
Scholz again condemned the war in Ukraine, which he called “Putin’s war.” “It’s a criminal war, there’s no doubt about that.” He was convinced that all measures would be taken to solve these crimes. “We will try to clarify all things that we can determine specifically,” said Scholz.
