Hessian Minister President Boris Rhein (CDU) stated that the €1,000 relief subsidy planned by the federal government could completely fail. Speaking to RTL and ntv on Friday, Rhein admitted that the situation looked highly uncertain, noting that he did not know if the federal government would convene the reconciliation committee. He suggested that it was entirely possible that the premium might not pass at all.
The proposed tax- and levy-free subsidy for employees had already been stopped by the Bundesrat, which represents the federal states. Rhein strongly criticized the measure, arguing that it was fundamentally misguided. Although he conceded that the subsidy was well-intentioned by the current black-red federal government coalition, he argued it would not help in the current economic climate-in fact, the opposite was true. According to Rhein, because the country is experiencing a veritable economic crisis, providing such a subsidy could only amount to an additional burden on the economy, a strain that the German economy cannot afford.
