The Greens Want to Relieve the Economy and Private Households from Electricity Prices, Especially to Free Consumers from Network Charges. This is revealed in the nine-page economic chapter of the party program, which the “Handelsblatt” (Tuesday edition) reported.
“A secure, clean, and affordable energy supply is a decisive location factor” it says. Specifically, they want to “take over the network charges for the interregional high-voltage lines from the Germany Fund.” The “Germany Fund” will be newly established and financed with credits.
In addition, the Greens want to lower the electricity tax to the European minimum. The discount of 50 cents per megawatt-hour currently only applies to energy-intensive companies. Energy-intensive industries are to benefit from a “permanent and broader design of the electricity price compensation.” The companies will be exempt from the costs of the CO2 emissions trading.
The program draft also says that there will be “relaxations for self-produced electricity and a promotion of long-term power purchase agreements” for the economy. To protect European steel producers from “unfair trade practices” the Greens propose countervailing duties on the EU level, a model being the EU duties on Chinese electric cars.
To alleviate the labor shortage, the Greens want to create stronger incentives for women to take up employment. To achieve this, they want to abolish the current form of married couples’ split taxation and “fundamentally reform it to be more gender-equitable” the “Handelsblatt” reported.
Concretely, they want to introduce an “individual taxation with a transferable basic allowance.” This would mean that the partners would no longer be jointly, but individually, taxed. Couples would still not be without advantages in the Green model: if one partner does not use up their basic allowance, the basic allowance of the other partner would increase by the remaining sum. Existing marriages would, however, be allowed to keep the married couples’ split taxation.
Furthermore, the Greens want to increase the immigration of skilled workers. To make it easier for newcomers, they want to allow them to apply for work visas online: “A digital immigration agency will modernize and speed up the immigration process.” The Greens also want to strengthen vocational training with minimum wages and state that “the master’s certificate should be free of charge.”
The Greens will present their program draft on Tuesday, and the final program is to be adopted at a federal party convention on January 26.