The coalition was in a hurry with popular energy aid for the citizens.
Now she is also helping companies that are getting into trouble due to rising energy costs.
Rightly so, because social security depends on the stability of the economy.
The crisis package presented by Ministers Habeck (Greens) and Lindner (FDP) follows a principle that has been tried and tested in emergencies and is to be welcomed: the state primarily offers interest-bearing loans of seven billion euros, plus guarantees.
These instruments create incentives not to take state money lightly, to mobilize private forces first and to devise alternative strategies.
This includes passing on rising costs to customers where the market allows.
State reserves are not exhausted
More problematic are direct grants or the entry of the state into companies in crisis.
Both harm competition and harbor the risk of losses for taxpayers.
Direct subsidies, including five billion euros, cannot be reclaimed by the state.
They should therefore only be used as a secondary priority and strictly conditioned.
Only when companies have to cope with energy costs that are more than twice as high as in the previous year does the subsidy beckon, on a graduated basis.
In addition, only companies that are in international competition and cannot easily pass on their costs should be supported.
The conditions and the sums, which are manageable compared to the huge Corona packages, speak of the effort to give an appropriate but financially cautious and market-compatible answer to the unpredictable consequences of the war.
This points to new humility in politics.
The ministers openly say that the state cannot compensate for the private sector losses that Germany will suffer from Russia's aggression in Ukraine.
This does not mean that the state reserves have been exhausted.
Should the war escalate, other sums must come into play.