The country intends to spend an additional 508 million euros on hydrogen investments in the upcoming year in order to mitigate the energy problem for the people and invest in long-term independence from gas imports.
In a special session, the state legislature passed the necessary supplemental budget with no disagreement. The data will now be considered in the specialized committees of the legislature and, if possible, adopted in the state parliament’s upcoming ordinary session on December 7.
The additional tax revenues brought on by inflation are to be utilized for the supplemental budget instead of taking out any loans. The administration also says that reserves from prior years will be released.
According to the opposition, there are still a few issues that need to be resolved, as was made obvious during the three-and-a-half-hour debate on Thursday. Franz-Robert Liskow, the leader of the CDU’s parliamentary group, expressed dissatisfaction about the lack of clarity regarding the criteria to be used in allocating the 100 million euros from the hardship fund. In the draft, the state administration is more or less explicit that it would only consider how the funds should be allocated after the budget has been approved.
The hardship fund should be utilized to support small and medium-sized businesses, educational institutions, and daycare facilities during the energy crisis, according to SPD Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig. She stated that the federal funding for the businesses would quadruple to 40 million euros. It is also obvious that the kids shouldn’t freeze. The state and municipalities will pay the expenses.
Heiko Geue, the SPD’s finance minister, emphasized the large investments that will be made in a hydrogen economy in the future. He stated that Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania intends to pay this with 560 million euros. Investments worth a total of 700 million euros can be anticipated using the shares of the companies concerned. Therefore, MV is spending more money on hydrogen than Bavaria. Geue proudly declared, “We’re ahead here.
The opportunity of the century is to generate hydrogen from climate-neutral energy, as MV presently produces twice as much green electricity as is used in the state. It should be used in part to launch the hydrogen industry. The creation of hydrogen is viewed as a method of storing the intermittent electricity generated by the sun and wind. However, energy is needed for the actual production.
The hydrogen investments concept was questioned by the AfD. It hasn’t yet been decided if hydrogen, ammonia, or another technology will win the race, according to MP Martin Schmidt. Additionally, you require a lot of water for production, yet it is not clear where this water should originate in MV. Perhaps a seawater desalination plant is required.
Die Linke’s Torsten Koplin, a member of the ruling party, defended the proposals. He claimed that hydrogen is the fuel of the future and asked why it was being disparaged. It’s normal to take chances. We don’t live in a state economy.
Schmidt demanded that electricity be sourced from Russia once more in the future, but Julian Barlen, the SPD parliamentary group’s leader, urged for the creation of an MV that is energy-independent. The 560 million euros allocated for the hydrogen industry was lauded as a “positive omen” by René Domke, the leader of the opposition FDP parliamentary party. Harald Terpe, the leader of the green parliamentary group, demanded standards for the designation of the envisioned “green industrial regions.” He recommended relying on both designating new areas and improving current ones.
Schwesig also disclosed that 25 million euros would be made available to help seniors who were overlooked during the transfer from the GDR era pension system and are currently in severe financial need. The funds will be used to enhance federal hardship fund payouts from 2,500 to 5,000 euros. It concerns women, railroad employees, and nurses who got divorced during the GDR era. According to the report, Jewish immigrants and late resettlers are also eligible for the hardship fund.
The Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian Taxpayer Association requested that funds not be disbursed with watering cans in consideration of the supplemental budget. The association used the balcony power plants, for which ten million euros are available, as a bad example. The purchase of 200–600 watt compact solar systems will be funded for up to 18,000 families.
