"The coalition committee provided some good impetus, but at the same time, unified decisions are still pending in important areas.

High energy prices in Germany are a significant challenge for businesses. An industrial electricity price is generally welcome, but its impact is likely to be limited due to EU state aid restrictions. Crucially, the system must be designed in a way that also benefits the semiconductor industry and energy-intensive, medium-sized suppliers (e.g., in the metal processing sector).

Particularly welcome is the announcement that battery production will also be able to benefit from electricity price compensation in the future. This should ensure that battery production in Germany can reliably benefit from more competitive electricity prices going forward. Parallel to the coalition committee meeting, the German Bundestag decided to permanently extend the electricity tax reduction for the manufacturing sector. Together with the grid fee subsidies decided for 2026 onward, the electricity price compensation for batteries, and the planned introduction of an industrial electricity price, Berlin is addressing high energy prices and providing relief. With regard to the industrial electricity price, it is crucial that there is swift clarity on its financing from the federal budget and that any additional burden on electricity prices for other consumers is ruled out.

However, the important electricity tax reduction for e-mobility remains pending. Furthermore, it must be clear that structural reforms are essential for reducing electricity prices in the long term and sustainably. The conclusion of energy partnerships, the construction of new power plant capacity, the general reduction of grid costs, and faster grid expansion remain crucial.

The planned tenders for gas-fired power plants are therefore welcome, also for reasons of security of supply—implementation must proceed without delay. However, the financing of the tenders remains unclear—a potentially imminent security of supply levy would place an additional burden on industry. For the capacity market planned from 2032 onward, the specific design is crucial, one that also adequately considers decentralized technologies such as bidirectional charging.

With regard to the Germany Fund, it is encouraging that the commodities fund within the fund focuses on critical raw materials and the resilience of strategic value chains – explicitly including those for the automotive industry. It remains to be seen to what extent industrial SMEs can benefit from the fund. The specific structure of the fund will be crucial for a detailed assessment.

Beyond these concrete results from the coalition committee, it remains crucial for the German automotive industry that an agreement on fleet emission limits is reached in Berlin as quickly as possible. Flexibility and technological options are absolutely essential here—to achieve this, a strong, unified German voice in Brussels is needed."