The Energy Crisis Cabinet will meet in the Chancellery on Monday. The opposition was also there. The SPÖ has a list of requests for immediate assistance. The “Krone” already has it.
Energy crisis cabinet. Monday, 4 p.m. In the chancery. This time, the opposition, federal states, social partners and energy companies can also participate. The SPÖ has a five-point plan in the luggage. Boss Pamela Rendi-Wagner will unpack it and put it on the table. It is already available for the “Krone”. Instead of “pieces”, immediate and comprehensive energy measures need to be introduced.
Inflation is 9.2 percent. The highest value since 1975. According to the SPÖ, the average inflationary pressure per household in 2022 will be at least 3,000 euros (assuming 7.5 percent inflation for the whole year). The introduction of an electricity price ceiling – the government says that the electricity price is slowing down and wants to spread it socially – is fundamentally correct, but it must be done immediately and be part of a total package.
And this is what the Reds catalog looks like:
Sprout: Target price 1.50 euros by means of a fuel price ceiling (per liter would now be 20 cents too much) and a temporary abolition of VAT on fuel.
Food: Reduction of the prices of daily necessities by ten percent due to the temporary suspension of VAT on groceries.
Energy: Caps for gas and electricity, to be introduced immediately (not just in the autumn). Socially classified according to three tariff levels. According to the Energy Agency, the gas price index will rise by 23 percent in August compared to July and is even 323 percent higher than in August 2021.
Rent: Roll back the rise in category and benchmark rents and freeze these rents until 2025. One million households will be affected.
excess profits: To finance the measures, the approximately six billion euros in excess profits of energy companies must be skimmed off.
Rendi-Wagner: ‘Prices must go down now’
Rendi-Wagner warns against haste: “People are feeling the price increases everywhere. Prices have to come down now. The high gas and fuel prices are simply ignored and the government is also looking the other way when it comes to rents.”
The government, meanwhile, does not believe in skimming excess profits and is defending its latest $28 billion aid package. And it will put an end to the long-demanded cold progression. Monday’s crisis summit is likely to be explosive.
Source: Krone
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