If inflation continues to be high, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) has promised more relief for citizens. Heil told the “Rheinische Post” that the government will find new answers if prices are high in the long term.
In order to provide targeted help to citizens and to cushion social hardship, the traffic light coalition quickly decided on a relief package worth 30 billion euros. The minister said that “if the price increases last for a long time, we need to organize permanent relief”.
Heil advocated “socially graded climate money” to compensate for rising CO2 prices. However, he was reluctant to lower VAT on food: “In everything we do, we also have to ensure that relief actually reaches those who need it.”
Heil emphasized that the state could not compensate for all losses due to increased inflation. The state can now cushion particular hardships, but cannot fully compensate for all price increases through subsidies. “It’s about supporting people with normal and low incomes in a targeted manner,” explained Heil.
Heil said that a unilateral gas embargo by Germany against Russia “would plunge us into a double crisis, then we would be in stagflation, i.e. in an economic crisis and prices rising even more”. The SPD minister said the German economy was still growing.
“Right now we don’t expect the sky to fall on our heads this year. We have economic growth and an extraordinarily stable job market,” said the SPD minister. “We will not hesitate for a second and act decisively to further extend short-time work if the situation escalates economically.”
