While experts are warning Germany could run out of gas as early as February, its political parties are bickering over how liberal new laws legalising cannabis should be.
Parties within Germany’s ruling ‘traffic light’ coalition are now bickering about how liberal legislation legalising the sale and use of cannabis in the country should be, with some factions within the leftist administration arguing that measures decriminalising the drug do not go far enough.
The political row comes at a time of major crisis for Germany, which has seen countless businesses collapse and supermarket shelves go bare as rapid inflation hits the country as a result of the ongoing cost of living crisis partly brought about by the nation’s failed green agenda and participation in the Western sanctions war with Russia.
Experts now fear that the country could completely run out of natural gas as early as February should plans to alleviate the crisis not perfectly line up, with it becoming ever more likely that many in the country will be unable to adequately heat their homes this winter.
Despite such ongoing political, social, and economic chaos, those within the ruling coalition have decided to start arguing over cannabis legalisation, according to a report by Bild.
Under draft plans published on Wednesday, Germany is set to fully decriminalise cannabis, with both the consumption and licenced sale of the drug to be permitted under German law.
However, the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) has taken issue with one part of the plan, which will limit the percentage of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) allowed to be present in cannabis sold commercially.
With THC being the major psychoactive substance present within cannabis, FDP officials have argued that limiting the percentage of the substance within drugs sold will incentivise the continued operation of the black market.
“The key issues paper on cannabis legalization from the Federal Ministry of Health misses the goal of pushing back the black market,” drug policy spokeswoman Kristine Lütke complained regarding the plans.
Lütke went on to describe the measures as being “unnecessarily restrictive”, arguing instead that planned limits on the amount that can be legally purchased and on the psychoactive elements within the drugs should be removed.
It remains to be seen whether the FDP are correct in saying that rules should be relaxed even more if Germany wishes to subdue the black market, but a more pressing question is how the legalisation of cannabis will be of much benefit to average Germans, many of whom will likely struggle to heat their homes and feed their families over the coming months.
With inflation in the country hitting 10 per cent in September, both individuals and businesses are coming under ever-increasing pressure, with many supermarkets now failing to keep shelves stocked with certain goods as they become less profitable or completely unprofitable under current pricing structures.
The ongoing hardship is only expected to get worse in the coming months, with the President of the German Institute for Economic Research, Marcel Fratzscher, saying that Germany will see a wave of mass insolvencies hit its business sector over the coming years as a result of a combination of recession and inflation.
“It is very likely that many more companies will go bankrupt or go out of business over the next two years, many of whom are already running low on reserves as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and are now also struggling to cope with a slump in demand and higher energy prices,” the expert said.
Such a wave may have already hit the country, with four major companies, all of which have been around for more than 100 years, being declared insolvent within 24 hours.
One of these giants, the Kappus soap company, had boasted a 174-year history before being declared bankrupt, with the rising costs of raw materials, as well as personnel and logistics, being blamed for its collapse.
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