More and more Germans are asking Chancellor Olaf Scholz to cap the price of kebap, which has increased a lot in the last 2 years due to inflation. There are also proposals to subsidize traders in order to keep the price of one of Germany’s favorite foods low, reports The Guardian.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has gotten so used to being asked about the price of a kebab during public appearances that the German government posted an explanation on social media: the increase in prices was partially caused by the increase in wages and energy costs.
“It’s amazing. “Everywhere I go, people, especially young people, ask me if the price of kebap can’t be capped,” said Scholz.
The far-left party Die Linke has also addressed this topic, requesting, in a proposal it wants to present to parliament, the introduction of a price ceiling for Dönerpreisbremse, or doner kebap. This, in the conditions where a kebab already costs 10 euros in some cities, increasing from 4 euros just two years ago.
The party recommends a price ceiling of 4.90 euros – reduced to 2.90 euros for young people, especially those from lower income backgrounds – arguing that this kind of food is a food of daily basis. Furthermore, the party suggests that every household receive vouchers for kebap.
Such a subsidy program would cost 4 billion euros annually, Die Linke calculated.
Hanna Steinmüller, an MP for the Greens, a party that usually calls on people to give up meat, raised the issue in parliament earlier this year.
„For young people, at this moment, it is as important a problem as the place where they will move when they leave home. I know it’s not an everyday issue for a lot of people here,’ she told fellow MPs, ‘and it’s also something that could be ridiculed, but I think that, as representatives of the voters, we are obliged to highlight these different perspectives,’ said Steinmüller.
Scholz ruled out any price control measure, saying it cannot be implemented in a free market economy. Instead, he praised the “efforts of the European Central Bank” to reduce inflation.
Instead, on social networks, some young people demanded the return of Angela Merkel, arguing that, as chancellor, Scholz’s predecessor “kept the kebab under control”.
Publisher: MB
