The federal government is tipping the controversial surcharge for all gas customers.

Instead, tailor-made instruments would be developed for the ailing gas importers Uniper, Sefe and VNG, and a gas price brake would also be created, according to a decision presented on Thursday by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). .

A fund financed with loans is to support the electricity and gas price brakes with 200 billion euros, Olaf Scholz said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

At the opening of the press conference, Olaf Scholz said: "After the destruction of the pipelines at the latest, we can say that gas will no longer be supplied from Russia in the foreseeable future." Russian President Vladimir Putin is using the lack of energy supplies as a weapon.

Robert Habeck added that the new protective shield would be able to ward off the attack by Putin's regime on our economy.

Christian Lindner asserted that the requirements of the debt brake would be met in 2023 despite the crisis measures.

Since the 200 million euros would be pooled in a crisis fund, crisis and budgetary measures would remain separate.

The aim is to keep the creditworthiness of German government bonds at a high level.

Rüdiger Bachmann, a German economist who is researching the consequences of a gas shortage in America, told the FAZ in a first comment on the gas price brake: "It is right that money is finally being taken for the gas and electricity problem, that was two ago Not so for months, when Habeck was looking for measures that cost the taxpayer nothing.

But if this were to finance a blanket gas price cap, then a gas shortage and, according to the forecasts of the institutes and in view of the warnings from the head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, a severe recession has become more likely.

However, I still hope for the work of the Gas Commission, which is made up of top-class staff.”

The coalition partners had come under increasing pressure in recent days due to the lack of Russian gas supplies to Germany in the course of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

A gas surcharge was originally intended to protect large gas suppliers from insolvency.

Among other things, however, there were fears of enormous costs from a levy that consumers would have to face.

Leading economic research institutes warned that a gas price brake could fuel the already high inflation.

Such a brake is also criticized because, according to critics, there would then be less incentive to save the scarce gas.

Because of the high proportion of imports, a reduction in the gas price would require "massive subsidies, which in turn would of course then pump new purchasing power into the private sector," said Stefan Kooths from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy at the presentation of the autumn report by the leading economic research institutes.

This will once again fan the general economic upward pressure on prices.

The controversial gas levy, on the other hand, is better than its reputation.

It's not just about saving the gas suppliers.

By passing on the higher gas prices to the population more quickly, there is also an incentive for customers with old contracts to save on gas.