Spahn defends waiver of electricity tax reduction for all

Berlin – Jens Spahn (CDU), the leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, is warning his coalition partner, the SPD, against ignoring the Union's core demands in the federal government's planned pension reform. "It is clear to the CDU/CSU that we have agreed on a pension package: fixing the pension level at 48 percent, the mother's pension, the active pension, the early start pension, and the company pension belong together and will only be passed together as a package in the Bundestag," the CDU politician told "Welt am Sonntag." The newly elected SPD leader and Federal Minister of Labor, Bärbel Bas, presented a draft for her first pension law this week. Spahn also defended the federal cabinet's decision not to reduce the electricity tax for private customers, as promised. "The budget situation is strained after three years of recession; we can't implement everything immediately. That was always clear," said Spahn. "The coalition agreement states that we want to permanently reduce the electricity tax for everyone. And now we're looking at how this can be done step by step as quickly as possible. For the economy to recover, the first step is a permanent reduction for the manufacturing sector. Growth benefits everyone in the country. We are also immediately reducing grid charges by €6.5 billion, which will make electricity significantly cheaper for private customers as well."