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In Lüneburg they have almost made virtue out of necessity again.

The shop windows of 24 empty shops in the city center there were converted into a large lottery Advent calendar at Christmas time - in order to somehow lure people to Christmas shopping in the city of the old Hanseatic city despite reduced offers and the lack of Christmas markets.

So that not all of the Christmas sales go online.

And the next accessible Lüneburg Advent calendar may have to have 48 doors.

Nationwide, the municipalities fear about the attractiveness of their inner cities, whose retail trade has been suffering from sales losses for years.

The corona pandemic is now making the need much, much greater in one fell swoop.

The German Retail Association (HDE) calculates that sales in the retail sector fell by 20 percent in 2020 - at least that applies to those industries that had to close in spring and before Christmas due to the shutdown.

The Union and the SPD unanimously propose that they should now be helped at last.

The Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag presented a “policy paper” this weekend in which the deputy parliamentary group leader Andreas Jung and the local political spokesman for the CDU and CSU propose the establishment of an “inner city fund”, which, among other things, includes a new fee for online trading should be financed.

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The "parcel delivery" is to be paid for by the online retailers and will directly benefit the strengthening of the retail trade in the inner cities.

Their amount should be based on the value of the goods ordered.

"Online retail", Jung justified the advance in WELT AM SONNTAG, "will have to pay for the communal infrastructure in the future, since it also uses it".

With the new levy, "an imbalance will finally be eliminated and competition created on an equal footing."

At the SPD, the union is running in with the issue of open doors.

Bernhard Daldrup, local political spokesman for the social democratic parliamentary group, welcomed the proposal, as it would enable stationary retailers "more equal opportunities".

In addition to this idea, which has long been debated in the SPD as a "product shipping tax", said Daldrup WELT,

“Another important element would be to make the previously free returns of goods from online retailing subject to a charge”.

Such a measure would also help “reduce unnecessary traffic”.

Lower Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs, Bernd Althusmann, also considers such a “return fee” to be sensible in order to keep the number of orders within reasonable limits.

In this context, the CDU politician is promoting an “action plan” in which “all measures against further vacancies and for a sustainable strengthening of our inner cities” are bundled.

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When asked, the Mayor of Bremen Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) referred to the demand for a “digital tax” that had long been made by the SPD and its candidate for chancellor Olaf Scholz, which would finally put a stop to the “unfair and socially harmful systematic tax avoidance of the Internet giants” .

As long as this does not exist, among other things because of the necessary international coordination, there is “a lot in favor of levying a special tax on online trading”.

Bovenschultes colleague from Mainz, Michael Ebling (SPD), also discussed such an additional fee at the beginning of December.

The initiative from the Union met with less approval from those affected.

The general manager of the Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order (bevh), Christoph Wenk-Fischer, spoke of a "slap in the face for those who have invested in innovation and security of supply in retail in the city and in the country for 25 years" and " create future-proof jobs and apprenticeships ”.

Internet trade in particular is the last anchor for thousands of stationary retailers, the required levy "a redistribution from today to yesterday".

Otto Group and the retail association are critical

A spokesman for the Otto Group, which is strong in online retail, pointed out that a special tax should “probably hit Amazon”, but that in reality it would put medium-sized companies in particular in trouble.

Retail in the city centers is competitive "if it faces digital competition".

An argument that the retail association supports.

A special charge for the parcel trade "would be a disservice to the third of stationary retailers who have built up an online foothold," said HDE Managing Director Stefan Genth.

City retailers urgently need support, but “playing off the sales channels against one another” does not help anyone.

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With a view to the pandemic-induced acute distress of the retail trade in the inner cities -

"Whole city centers are facing the abyss"

- Genth admitted that he welcomed “any political discussion and initiative”.

It is important that in future “our local regulations for production safety and tax payments are also observed for deliveries from the Far East”.

There is also more skepticism than consent to a parcel delivery from the opposition in the Bundestag.

With the AfD anyway.

She accused Union and SPD of being responsible for the emergency in the retail sector.

It is "imperative to lift the useless trade bans immediately," said the economic policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Steffen Kotré.

Instead of a lockdown, more corona protection is needed for the risk groups, and his parliamentary group rejects “planned economy interventions” such as a “package tax”.

The deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Michael Theurer, also rejected the union's proposal.

Instead of a “new bureaucracy monster”, the companies needed “a clear and reliable opening perspective for 2021”.

Theurer also spoke out in favor of expanding the possibilities of carrying back losses for the shops affected by the lockdown as well as for more flexible shop opening times nationwide and more legal security when planning Sunday shopping.

This is the only way that “traditional retail can hold its own against online retail in the long term”.

In any case, according to Schleswig-Holstein's Minister of Economic Affairs Bernd Buchholz (FDP), parcel delivery would not stop structural change.

The retail trade can "create and win attractiveness on its own", but politicians must ensure "that competition is fair and that online giants also have to pay taxes".

The Left Party is also targeting the large digital retail groups in their contribution to the debate on parcel delivery.

"The retail trade," said Bundestag parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch, "also suffers because Amazon pays poor wages" and "continues to be the world champion in tax savings".

The federal government should no longer tolerate this situation.

An effective, and above all quickly introduced, levy, according to Bartsch, "would still be the right step".

The Greens called on the federal government to finally get the aid for local trade off the ground faster.

The economic policy group spokeswoman Katharina Dröge also recommended the issue of “purchase-on-site vouchers for local retailers”.

After all, the city of Lüneburg already distributed such vouchers to its citizens this year.

Online trade is booming - parcel deliverers in the Christmas stress

The pre-Christmas season is always stressful for the parcel deliverers, but now it is reinforced by the lockdown.

Many have therefore increased their staff and hope to be able to deliver all Christmas packages on time.

Source: WELT / Philipp Reichelt