Consumer advocates do not give the grand coalition a good report and are demanding more commitment from the parties in the Bundestag election. "The corona crisis has exposed consumer problems that have existed for a long time," said the head of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV), Klaus Müller, on Tuesday at the start of the campaign "Without strong consumers, no strong economy". Dealing with the pandemic is an opportunity to gear the economy more towards consumer needs. These should be supported in all situations and existing rights should not be undermined.
The association has eleven key demands for the election in September.
This is about better protection against cost traps, more rights for travelers, “strong climate protection at fair prices”, cheaper electricity and better standards for healthy and sustainable food.
The lobby group also calls for an expansion of local public transport and relief for long-term care insurance.
The association rated the work of the grand coalition as mediocre.
He sees many failures.
"If we, as consumer advocates, draw an overall balance of the legislative period - beyond the current pandemic situation - there is a lot of light, but also a lot of shadow," said Müller.
The model declaratory action, the voluntary Nutri-Score for labeling food and the return to joint health insurance are positive.
No alternative to the Riester pension
However, the government still has a lot to do and has failed to develop a standardized private pension product as an alternative to the Riester products and to introduce an animal welfare label.
In addition, there is no noticeable relief in the electricity price for private households.
In a VZBV survey, 44 percent of the people in the federal government gave the school grade “satisfactory” and 22 percent even only “sufficient”.
This results in an average grade of 3.5 and thus a “4+”, explained the organization.