The Hessian Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) has criticized the communication of the traffic light coalition in the energy crisis.

This leads to great concern among the population, Rhein told the FAZ podcast for Germany.

The reason for this is the "alarmism and also the hysterism" operated by the federal government.

"Yes, we know that something is coming, but we really have to remain level-headed and not spread an apocalyptic mood, because that scares people even more." The main task of politics is to take precautions and not to constantly warn.

According to Rhein, entrepreneurs would tell him that customers were becoming increasingly cautious in the face of gloomy prospects.

"If we give people the impression that they're about to run out of money and that something's about to happen to us,

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Editor in Politics.

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Rhein also criticized the federal government's lack of transparency in communication with the federal states: "How much gas is in the storage facilities?

What are we doing or what is the federal government doing to get new gas?

What are the concrete plans of the federal government?

That's something we're missing right now," Rhein told the FAZ podcast for Germany.

Many people and also the federal states are concerned that "there are currently a lot of warnings, but very little plain text is spoken and very little transparency is created".

Rhein accused the governing coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP of making mistakes when dealing with price increases and currency depreciation: "This federal government itself is the biggest driver of inflation because it has been taking on a really gigantic amount of debt," said Rhein.

The relief packages are not sufficient.

It is a mystery to him that pensioners and students do not benefit from the energy flat rate.

He also misses government action against cold progression and an adjustment of the distance allowance to relieve rural areas.

The Hessian Prime Minister, who was elected to succeed Volker Bouffier on May 31 with the votes of the CDU and the Greens, also complained that southern Germany was being neglected.

In the federal government, there is a spirit that says, “the southerners can do it, they are wealthy”.

That's why Hesse wants to participate in a "Southern Alliance" with Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) had already expressed this plan a few days ago – combined with criticism of the federal government.

"We clearly have to make ourselves heard here," Rhein told the FAZ podcast.

The point is to cooperate more closely as federal states, especially in times of gas shortages, but also to articulate their own interests more clearly in Berlin.

Also on the show: Which aid packages the federal government has launched so far - and what it is planning now.

Otfried Höffe, Professor of Political Philosophy, on the question of how the economic crisis could damage democracy.