The payment of the heating check will not take place until August at the earliest, says Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jørgensen (S). He is also calling for political negotiations to expand the heating aid, after the war in Ukraine has sent energy prices further up.
It was in February that a narrow majority in the Folketing decided to give a total of one billion kroner to around 320,000 households. The money was to urgently help needy citizens whose heating bills had increased significantly. But the payment will therefore not take place until August and September at the earliest.
- When we made the agreement, I was clearly convinced that we could get the money out faster than has proven possible. I would like to regret that. Because there are many people out there with a legitimate expectation of getting the money, says Dan Jørgensen and continues:
- But there are many things that need to fall into place in relation to, for example, data processing, so unfortunately it cannot be done faster.
New negotiations for more help
Dan Jørgensen is also calling for new negotiations to expand the heating aid. This is a major wish from, among others, the SF, which, prior to the party's national meeting this weekend, proposed spending an additional 2.5 billion DKK on "heating package II".
- Since we entered into the agreement on a targeted heating check, the situation has worsened significantly. There is war in Europe, and energy prices are still very, very high. Therefore, we must look at whether we cannot increase the heating aid further. We need to negotiate about that now, says Dan Jørgensen.
To start with, the parties that were part of the original agreement will be invited to the negotiations. This does not include the Blue Bloc, as the majority of the Blue Bloc parties left the negotiations because they believed that the agreement helped too few.
- And now that we are planning to increase the aid, it is possible that more parties will support it.
The majority of the Blue Bloc left the negotiations on the first heating aid because they believed that it was too little and helped too few. Dan Jørgensen hopes that more parties will support it now that the aid is planned to be expanded. If the August and September timetable is to be met, the minister will also need three-quarters of the Danish Parliament to approve an urgent consideration of the bill that will implement the package.
- We need goodwill in the Danish Parliament to make an urgent consideration. Otherwise it will be even later, he says.
Ritzau
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