The Finance Ministry has provided the estimate covering a range of relief and stabilization measures<\/p>\n
Germany has spent some \u20ac50 billion ($58 billion) cushioning the impact of soaring energy prices after cutting Russian gas imports in 2022, Die S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung and Bild have reported.
\nFollowing the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, Germany drastically reduced imports of Russian natural gas, which had previously covered 55% of its consumption. The shift has driven up energy costs and contributed to a prolonged economic slump, hitting both households and industry and undermining German competitiveness.
\nDie S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday that the Finance Ministry provided the \u20ac50 billion estimate in response to an inquiry by Green Party MP Robin Wagener. The figure covers relief and stabilization measures including electricity and gas price caps, a one-off payment to pensioners, and rescue packages for gas companies.
\nBild cited several experts as saying the overall economic toll of the energy crisis, including the construction of new LNG terminals, is likely \u201csignificantly higher.\u201d\u00a0
\nThe opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) has repeatedly criticized Berlin\u2019s decision to decouple from Russian energy. Party co-chair Alice Weidel said in June that \u201ccheap energy from Russia was the secret of the success of \u2018Made in Germany\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s anti-Russia stance helped drive AfD election victory \u2013 expert<\/p>\n
\u201cThe loss of this energy has set us back years. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost. It has made us dependent on the United States, which sells us energy at far higher prices,\u201d she stated.
\nRising energy costs may also have contributed to the AfD\u2019s growing popularity, according to a study published in late July. Titled \u2018The Political Consequences of Energy Price Shocks,\u2019 the paper found that \u201clarge and sudden increases in household energy costs coincided with heightened political dissatisfaction and electoral gains for populist parties, particularly the far right populist Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD).\u201d\u00a0
\nAccording to the analysis, Germans who experienced above-median price increases were 7.5 percentage points more likely to support the AfD.
\nThe trend has been particularly pronounced in former East Germany, where \u201cenergy prices increased most strongly,\u201d the researchers said, pointing to the AfD\u2019s electoral gains in Thuringia, Brandenburg, and Saxony in 2023 and 2024.
\nOn Sunday, the AfD won the regional election in Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8% of the vote, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz\u2019s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) finished second with just 17.2%.
\nMultiple recent polls have indicated that the AfD is the most popular party nationally, with support at around 28%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Finance Ministry has provided the estimate covering a range of relief and stabilization measures Germany has spent some \u20ac50 billion ($58 billion) cushioning the impact of soaring energy prices…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t