Cover required – Rendi-Wagner: ‘Merit order must be terminated’

A gas price ceiling such as in Germany is necessary to prevent social unrest, Rendi-Wagner said on Saturday in Wiener Neustadt during a so-called theme council, in which the abandonment of fossil energy took up a lot of space.

Failing electricity market has “no right to exist”
She argues for a different form of pricing on the electricity market. “The merit order is out and must be ended,” she said in her address to party members. “An electricity market that fails and is directed against the people no longer has a right to exist.”

The German economist Jens Südekum also spoke as a guest speaker, advisor to the German government and member of the SPD. He warned: “With all short-term measures, the big picture must not be forgotten”, the course must be set in the crisis, which is necessary anyway.

“Realistically, the Paris target of 1.5 degrees Celsius can hardly be achieved,” says Südekum. But it makes a huge difference whether it’s 1.6 or 2.6 degrees. “We don’t even want to talk about 3 or 4 degrees”. Südekum concludes that the pace at which the energy transition must succeed must be increased considerably and that there are economic opportunities here. In Germany, a fossil project shows how it’s done. Only 174 days have passed between the decision and the commissioning of Germany’s first liquefied gas terminal. “It shows that it is possible if everyone understands the seriousness of the situation,” says Südekum.

Rendi-Wagner adopted Südekum’s analysis. The transformation to zero carbon emissions requires a strong, determined state. “If you take this goal seriously, and we are doing it with all our might, headlines will not be enough,” the SPÖ leader said. If you take the goals seriously, you should set up a new wind turbine every two or three days. She did not repeat her earlier call for a suspension of CO2 pricing in her speech at the “Themenrat”.

Federal government is “on the sidelines”
The largest opposition party accuses the turquoise-green federal government of “standing on the sidelines” and waiting for markets to regulate it, as Rendi-Wagner said. There is no second chance for the transformation and Südekum stated that there was “no alternative to preserving the planet as a place worth living on”.

The issue of debts was also discussed at the SPÖ “Theme Council”. Südekum argued for exceptions to EU budget rules. “The debts are not a burden for future generations”, on the contrary, a destroyed planet harms children and grandchildren.