Crisis management of the traffic light: A picture of misery

No federal government has ever been thrown into so cold water after a change of power in such a short time.

The traffic light coalition must be given credit for this when its performance in times of war and multiple crises is assessed.

But even if situations have to be mastered that have never existed in the history of the Federal Republic, the movements of the traffic light coalition do not suggest that they are learning to swim.

There are right and good decisions.

But there is also an image of misery.

Relief packages that counteract the attack from Russia on the German economy are right and good.

Diverting the energy supply from new sources that correct wrong decisions of the past is also right and good.

The long-overdue shift in security policy was also right and good.

Can't you expect more?

But all this cannot be understood as a brilliant achievement and gifted crisis management.

It is, with all due respect, what common sense dictates.

At the moment, however, nothing more can be expected from this government.

For weeks the country has not known what should happen to defuse two of the most important domestic political trouble spots that have been known for a long time: What will become of the gas price and the gas levy?

What will become of the electricity price and the power supply?

Derived from this, the question arises as to whether the relief is being applied in the right places and whether it is sufficient.

The coalition seems as if they don't want to do anything for fear of making the wrong decision.

As a result, she tampers with the symptoms.

Political prankster

Up until now, the nuclear issue has been a symbol of this.

Is the federal government now ensuring the largest possible and safest possible supply of energy by extending the service life, or is it letting it go?

The coalition has opted for a structure that firstly postpones a decision that secondly is as complicated as possible, and thirdly that at best eases tensions in the party of the Economics Minister and the Environment Minister.

In the rest of the country, it increases insecurity, which is already great enough.

The gas levy has now outstripped this prankster prank.

The further and faster the storage tanks fill up, the more hope there is that the situation on the gas market will calm down again.

Is it because the government is taking so much time to clarify whether the surcharge really makes sense and is legally secure?

The role of the debt brake

The debate in the coalition rather suggests that there is disagreement.

The SPD is moving away from the gas levy, while the FDP insists on it - not because they are convinced of the matter, but because they fear the debt brake will be lost if the coalition goes a different and better way.

The debt brake, on the other hand, is endangered anyway and only because the SPD, Greens and FDP are sticking to promises that seem to be immune to any turning point, no matter how great.

The avalanche continues: Because they themselves cannot take advantage of the extensions of the debt brake that are available to the federal government, the states are protesting against the burdens that the federal government is putting on them.

New desires

These include, above all, "relief", keyword 9-euro ticket, which has aroused lasting desire.

They can no longer be turned back, although they were not used to combat the acute crisis, but old climate protection plans, which the socket is apparently supposed to pay for.

What will it be like with other relief?

Is there a way out?

While households, medium-sized companies and industry in Germany still don't know how to calculate despite three relief packages, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are taking a stand against each other, and a working group on the gas price brake meets first.

The electricity price brake and the planned skimming off of profits are still awaiting elaboration.

The EU may be a stumbling block for this, but it is no excuse.

The reason for the delays in many places is not outside the government, but because it got lost in its ideological contradictions and technical errors.

Robert Habeck has now asked for leniency.

His ministry is overloaded and working harder than ever.

He will not meet with understanding everywhere in the republic.

The bakers, for example, with whom Habeck has had a special relationship since his comment about bankrupt companies, will tell him that they, too, wish they didn't have to work around the clock to keep their shop afloat.

And whining doesn't help.