fear recession The first economy of the euro zone is starting to fall apart in Germany. The country’s leading economic institutions confirmed that they expect a growth of 0.3% through 2023 in their new forecasts, which corrected their forecast for a contraction of 0.4% a few months ago.
Inflation will continue at high levels with 6.9% throughout the year. However, considering that it reached 10.4% in October, it should be accepted that it is on the right track. We’ll have to wait until 2024 for a decrease to more notable levels -2.4%.
According to figures for March, the labor market continues to show its strength with an unemployment rate of 5.7%. Employment is at record levels, with 45.6 million people actively working in a country of 82 million people.
Last fall’s black expectations seem to have been exceededWhen the government does not rule out at least a mild recession and for a short time, as the Minister of Economy and Climate Protection has warned, green Robert Habeck.
gas challenge
The Germans did not run out of gas in the winter; this was another of those ominous scenarios shaped by Moscow cutting off the supply to the Nord Stream gas pipeline, amid Western sanctions for the attack on Ukraine, or the pipe becoming useless. not clarified by the authorized sabotage.
Habeck found alternatives, albeit more expensive. Netherlands, Norway or Belgium, among others, Germany began to equip itself with the first floating LNG terminals. It hasn’t been easy for the green minister to head the social democratic government. Olaf Scholz is committed to promoting renewable energy, a topic that has been relegated to the 16-year rule of conservative Angela Merkel.
The priority was to ensure that the Germans did not run out of gas and the tanks continued to fill up in the meantime. Energy supply of Russian gas, coal and oil cut off. Although we have to reactivate the backup coal plants, the nuclear shutdown, the trademark of German environmentalists, will be completed in a few days.
It will not be December 31, the date set by the trio. between social democrats, greens and liberals from Scholz. Habeck had to fit another extension into this program due to pressure from the Liberals. However, on April 15, the last three factories in the country will be disconnected. “’Atomkraft? Nein, danke’” -”Atomic energy? No thanks” – the founding slogan of the anti-nuclear movement, which the Greens have become the political arm of.
twitch
Habeck should be satisfied. However, each of his statements in the media, tension in the coalition. rising without hesitation about the need to invest in renewable energies to move forward. climate neutrality. Almost in parallel, another intervention will be made by the finance minister, liberal christian lindnerpreaching budget limitation.
Habeck’s interventions are made almost daily, whether in the form of televised statements, party events or press conferences. Lindner has less media coverage, and the head of Economics has no propensity for “sincere killing”—suicidal intimacy. Habeck’s, with the rank of vice-chancellor, is the most common face of German politics. He was the most valuable politician in the country until a few months ago. He has now fallen in the polls because he is described as a minister who wants to force millions of homes to replace their old gas or diesel boilers with systems that use clean energy.
What began as the laudable goal of replacing fossil energy with renewable energy has become a priority as a result of a bill by Habeck that is still to be filed. Adhere to Ban the installation of new gas boilers from 2024 and move towards their replacement with clean heating systems.
Spring still seems timid in Germany. Sub-zero lows continue overnight in some parts of the country. However, it is surprising that just as the arrival of good weather is perceived, warming is the dominant theme.
Public television stations Ard and ZDF, as well as reference media such as the weekly ‘Der Spiegel’ or ‘Die Zeit’, devote pages to describing every possible clean heating system for detached houses or apartments. advantages, price scale or technical difficulties. Large areas are also devoted to the problems that anyone trying to renew their old boiler with a more modern but also gas one will face: the plumbers are overwhelmed. There are many people who are looking for a quick and cheap replacement before suddenly getting banned. Habeck, on the other hand, faces these concerns every time he is invited to speak on camera and waits for him to unleash his next “intimacy murder”.