“Threat of job cuts”

Power producer STEAG’s threat to cut up to 1,000 jobs in fossil power generation shows Germany has entered election campaign mode, writes Frank-Thomas Wenzel in a commentary in Frankfurter Rundschau. The industry’s job-cut threats are at least partially politically motivated, and will be repeated often in the run-up to next year’s parliamentary elections, he argues. “This is meant to wear down politicians, so the next government introduces capacity premiums – subsidies to keep coal power stations on stand-by, even though no one needs them anymore,” according to Wenzel. “This is meant to secure jobs. But it’s the wrong way. Renewables have to be rolled out with courage. This creates many more jobs than the number that will be lost in the coal power stations.”