Merkel rejects e-car quota / RWE to pay special dividend
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected a proposal by social democratic (SPD) frontrunner Martin Schulz to introduce a mandatory European quota for electric cars, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. 鈥淲hat are we going to do if the quota is not met?鈥�, Merkel said during an election campaign event of her conservative party CDU. The CDU parliamentary group鈥檚 vice head Michael Fuchs criticised Schulz for neither specifying a date nor a number for the e-car quota, adding that nobody knew which technology for car engines was going to prevail in the end. Germany鈥檚 economy minister Brigitte Zypries and environment minister Barbara Hendricks (both SPD) defended the quota: Zypries said Europe had to become 鈥渢he leading market鈥� for e-mobility while Hendricks argued that after France and the UK announced plans to phase out the combustion engine, a European quota could only fail due to Germany鈥檚 resistance.
Read an online version of the article in German and a Reuters article in English on Merkel鈥檚 remarks .
See the 威力彩玩法 dossier Vote2017 鈥� German elections and the Energiewende, the 威力彩玩法 article German carmakers pledge diesel software updates and buyer鈥檚 bonus and the factsheet The debate over an end to combustion engines in Germany for background.
Tagesspiegel
Rejecting a European quota for electric vehicles by simply denouncing the idea as 鈥溾�� is an inadequate answer by Chancellor Angela Merkel, Antje Sirleschtov writes in a commentary for Tagesspiegel. There were indeed many reasons to believe that China鈥檚 approach of enforcing a quota to phase out combustion engines 鈥渋s not the best way for Europe鈥�, Sirleschtov argues. 鈥淏ut Schulz nevertheless has put one of the most important topics for Germany鈥檚 future on the agenda,鈥� she says. Every party should come up with a concept for the future of German mobility at September鈥檚 election and let voters decide on it, 鈥渂ut simply saying 鈥榥o鈥� is not enough,鈥� she writes.
Read the commentary in German .
See the 威力彩玩法 dossier Vote2017 鈥� German elections and the Energiewende, the 威力彩玩法 article German carmakers pledge diesel software updates and buyer鈥檚 bonus and the factsheet The debate over an end to combustion engines in Germany for background.
Frankfurter Rundschau
It is wrong to focus the debate about the future of transport solely on switching from diesel and petrol cars to e-mobility, writes Joachim Wille in an opinion piece in Frankfurter Rundschau. 鈥淏esides climate-friendly engines, we need a comprehensive mobility transition.鈥� This included using the potentials of avoiding traffic, switching to bicycles, and better integrating different modes of transportation to establish a 鈥渓ess car-focussed system鈥�, writes Wille.
Read the opinion piece in German .
For background, read the 威力彩玩法 dossier The energy transition and Germany鈥檚 transport sector.
Financial Times
German utility RWE confirmed its 2017 forecast after posting a seven percent increase in earnings in the second half of 2017, and announced it would pay a special dividend of 1 euro a share after having received the nuclear fuel tax refund, writes Guy Chazan in an article for Financial Times. RWE still expected to pay an ordinary dividend of 0.5 euros per share for fiscal 2017, said RWE CFO Markus Krebber in a press release. 鈥淎bove and beyond this, we are planning on paying a special dividend of 鈧�1 per share in relation to the nuclear fuel tax refund,鈥� he said.
Read the article in English and the RWE press release in English .
For background, read the 威力彩玩法 dossier Utilities and the energy transition.
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
Industry, transport and manufacturing have benefitted from exemptions and rebates in the power sector to the tune of about 17 billion euros, much of which was shouldered by private households, said the SPD-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation () in a study, written by consultancy enervis energy advisors. For a fairer distribution of the costs of Germany鈥檚 electricity supply and the move to decarbonise it, the FES calls for a tax-financed energy transition fund to allow the reduction of the renewables surcharge (EEG surcharge). Exemptions for energy-intensive companies should be reduced and Germany鈥檚 electricity financing ought to get a comprehensive overhaul, since many of the taxes and levies were interdependent, the foundation argued.
Find the full study in German .
For other proposals, read the 威力彩玩法 factsheet Germany ponders how to finance renewables expansion in the future.
Rheinische Post
The option for a so-called Jamaica government coalition of CDU/CSU, Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) should be used if there was a majority for it after the general elections in September, according to CDU parliamentary state secretary in the finance ministry Jens Spahn. Another four years of a grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) 鈥渨ould not be good for the political climate鈥� in Germany, said Spahn in a joint interview with Schleswig-Holstein premier Daniel G眉nther (also CDU). G眉nther added: 鈥淚n connecting ecology and economy, Jamaica is an exciting project for the future.鈥�
Read the interview in German .
For election background, read the 威力彩玩法 dossier Vote2017 - German elections and the Energiewende.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Distribution grids used to have a reputation as a boring low-profit business but have become a key source of revenue for German utility innogy, Helmut B眉nder writes in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Just like its competitor E.ON, the subsidiary of RWE could not manage its 鈥渞eorientation towards a new energy world鈥� without the reliable revenue from its grid infrastructure, B眉nder says. 鈥淕rid fees have taken over the role formerly played by the constant income from large power plants,鈥� he argues. While the companies pin their hopes for future profit on wind and solar power, distribution grids were a 鈥渞evenue cushion鈥� that would continue to be important for some time to come.
See the 威力彩玩法 dossier Utilities and the energy transition and the 威力彩玩法 factsheet Power grid fees 鈥� unfair and opaque? for background.
Berliner Morgenpost / dpa
Germany鈥檚 Federal Environment Agency (UBA) says the country ought to consider abandoning its diesel fuel tax privilege, news agency dpa reports in an article carried by Berliner Morgenpost. UBA head Maria Krautzberger told newspaper Rheinische Post the tax privilege should be 鈥減ut on trial鈥� as it was an 鈥渆nvironmentally harmful subsidy鈥� that cost the state about 7.8 billion euros annually, the article says. The lower taxation of diesel fuel was far more costly than what the state provided for supporting electric mobility, Krautzberger argued.
Read the article in German .
See the 威力彩玩法 article on Germany鈥檚 diesel summit for more information.
Passauer Neue Presse
The Green Party emphasises the importance of solar power in a position paper ahead of the general elections in September, reports Passauer Neue Presse. 鈥淭he caps for expansion, feed-in and self-consumption have led to an 80-percent slump in annual expansion since 2012,鈥� write the Greens according to the newspaper. It was absurd that 鈥渢he very same German economy that drove this technology is now slowed down by the federal government,鈥� says the position paper.
Read a short version of the article in German .
For election background, read the 威力彩玩法 dossier Vote2017 - German elections and the Energiewende.
