When the negotiating group of the governing coalition meets again this Monday to discuss the relief of citizens in view of the high energy prices, the SPD will present a new proposal: The new concept is called a mobility premium and provides for a graduated relief according to income.

As the "Bild am Sonntag" reported, the idea is that anyone who earns up to 2000 euros will receive 50 euros a month.

For incomes from 2001 up to 3000 euros, 35 euros are under discussion and for incomes from 3001 to 4000 euros 20 euros.

Those who earn more should not be relieved.

Katja Gelinsky

Business correspondent in Berlin

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Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) is credited with the idea of ​​the mobility bonus.

The FDP contradicted assumptions that the fuel discount proposed by Federal Finance Minister Lindner (FDP) was off the table.

"We are currently in talks," said the chairman of the FDP parliamentary group Christian Dürr of the FAZ "It is important that those who rely on the car are also relieved," emphasized Dürr.

Don't pour money out with a watering can

Leading politicians from the Greens and SPD made it clear over the weekend that they consider Lindner's proposal for a tank discount to be under-complex.

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk that the planned relief would “certainly also include the area of ​​mobility, but may be more complex”.

The chairman of the SPD parliamentary group, Lars Klingbeil, said it was important not to pour the money out with a watering can.

It is about relieving those with small and middle incomes in a targeted manner.

"Because they are now the most affected," said the SPD parliamentary group leader in an interview with "Bild am Sonntag".

A politician like him could fill up for 2.30 euros.

"The state doesn't have to help him." But the nurse who commutes to Hamburg "needs support now".

However, the mobility allowance also raises questions.

It is unclear how the grant will reach the beneficiaries.

Should the payment be made by the employer, who pays less income tax to the state, the bureaucratic effort would be considerable, especially for small and medium-sized companies.

The concept of mobility money could therefore prove to be even less practicable than the Green Party's proposal to pay citizens energy money, it said at the weekend.

With this proposal, it is also unclear which office should take over the payment.

In addition, critics object that the beneficiaries of the mobility allowance, unlike the fuel discount, do not benefit directly at the gas station.

Long-distance commuters will not be helped

Above all, however, the mobility allowance cannot be used to help long-distance commuters who are dependent on the car in a targeted manner - whether the focus should be on further relief here, however, is also highly controversial.

Nevertheless, Klingbeil was optimistic about the next round of negotiations.

“In the coming week at the latest” he expects an agreement in the traffic light on further relief.

Environmental organizations and trade unions also spoke up in the relief debate at the weekend.

In a joint appeal to the federal government, organizations such as Campact, Germanwatch, the German Nature Conservation Ring and the Verkehrsclub Deutschland criticize Lindner's proposal as "above all a gift for the rich with gas money".

The chairman of the German trade union federation Reiner Hoffmann told the newspapers of the Funke media group: "Those who already have plenty should not be served richly."