German Steel Federation welcomes budget agreement of German goverment

The German government has recently agreed on key points for the 2025 budget and intends to stay on course with the framework conditions for the basic industries undergoing transformation. This is good news says the German Steel Federation. However, the German Steel Federation also stresses that further steps are required to ensure planning security and competitiveness for the steel industry.

The fact that the financing of the planned expenditure in the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) is to be secured until 2025 is expressly welcomed by the German Steel Federation. The transfer of the costs of the EEG levy to the general budget is a sensible solution to relieve the burden on the KTF, explains Kerstin Maria Rippel, Managing Director of the German Steel Federation: "Now it is up to the government and especially the BMWK to design the climate protection contracts for the upcoming tendering rounds in such a way that the greatest CO2 savings are secured with the least possible bureaucratic effort". And investments in the transformation of the steel industry have an enormously positive impact on the climate.

In the view of the steel industry, the extension of the electricity price compensation until 2030 and the extension of the electricity tax reduction are also steps worthy of support. Nevertheless, this can only be a first step: "A solution must now be found very quickly, especially for the exploding grid fees," the association's head demands.

In principle, planning security is essential for steel-producing companies in Germany. "And that means that the government needs a reliable, long-term basis for financing future investments in infrastructure and transformation. Across party lines and beyond the legislative period," says Rippel. Because the fact is: if the politically set climate targets are to be achieved, the efforts of companies on the path to climate neutrality must be politically flanked. Especially in an international competitive environment in which industrial policy is openly pursued.

Source: WV Stahl, Photo: Fotolia