Germany to scrap gas storage levy
After decades of relying on cheap Russian gas, Europe's largest economy is grappling with high energy costs which are straining its export-driven, energy-intensive industries such as chemicals and metals production.
The levy was introduced in 2022 to help cover the high expense of replacing Russian gas after Moscow cut supplies.
While it was originally meant to be shared more broadly, pressure from Germany's neighbours led Berlin to impose the charge solely on German consumers.
According to government estimates, abolishing the levy will provide roughly 3.4 billion euros ($3.93 billion)in relief to end customers, saving an average four-person household between 30 euros and 60 euros per year.
($1 = 0.8655 euros)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Independent review to examine how govt department handled prosecutions of Post Office staff
The Department for Work and Pensions will launch an independent review into its handling of prosecutions against Post Office staff, Sky News has learned. About 100 prosecutions were carried out by the DWP between 2001 and 2006 during the Horizon IT scandal. The "independent assurance review", however, is yet to be commissioned and will not look at individual cases. It comes more than a year after Sky News discovered joint investigations between the Post Office and the DWP during the scandal - leading to suggestions some may be "tainted". Hundreds of subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted of stealing by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015, due to the faulty Horizon IT system. 2:55 The DWP told Sky News they have "committed" to commissioning the review into prosecutions led by the department, where Post Office staff were investigated for "welfare-related fraud". They described cases as "complex investigations" which they said were "backed by evidence including filmed surveillance, stolen benefit books and witness statements". They also added that "to date no documentation has been identified showing that Horizon data was essential to these prosecutions". The review will look at a period of time spanning 20 years covered by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024, from September 1996 to December 2018. The Horizon Act was effectively blanket exoneration legislation which automatically quashed Post Office convictions but did not include DWP or Capture-related prosecutions. The family of Roger Allen, who was convicted in 2004 of stealing pension payments by the DWP and sentenced to six months in prison, are "frustrated" the review won't look at his or other cases. Mr Allen died in March last year, still trying to clear his name. Keren Simpson, his daughter, describes the review as a "development" but a "fob off". "I think it's just getting us off their backs," she said, "I'll believe it when I see it because they're not taking any accountability. "They're not acknowledging anything. They're denying everything. "No one's saying, look, we really need to dig in and have a look at all these cases to see if there's the same pattern here." 1:29 Mr Allen pleaded guilty to spare his wife - after his lawyer told him in a letter that there had been "an indication from the Crown that they may discontinue the proceedings against Mrs Allen were you minded to plead guilty". Despite the Criminal Cases Review Commission deciding Mr Allen had grounds to appeal against his conviction - it was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2021. The independent review will look at the "methodology and processes" used by the DWP, and the "thoroughness and adequacy" of efforts to obtain case documents. The DWP say that the review won't be commenting on individual cases or those that have been dismissed by the Court of Appeal. 11:28 Potential reviewers will also be approached with experience "outside of the civil service". They will be asked to produce a report with recommendations for any further actions within six months of starting their review. Lawyer Neil Hudgell, instructed by some of those prosecuted, described the review as "wholly inadequate", saying the DWP "should not be marking its own homework." "Any involvement in the process of appointing reviewers undermines all confidence in the independence of the process," he added. 2:48 He also criticised the DWP's statement as "strikingly defensive and closed minded". "It cannot be anything approaching rigorous or robust without a proper case by case review of all affected cases, including those dismissed by the Court of Appeal." He said that where hundreds of convictions were quashed "at the stroke of a pen" a proper and "targeted" review is "the least these poor victims are owed." "At the moment there is a widespread feeling among the group that they have been "left behind and that is both legally and morally wrong." A Freedom of Information request to the Department of Work and Pensions by Sky News has also found that most cases they prosecuted involved encashment of stolen benefit payment order books. In response to questions over how many prosecutions involved guilty pleas with no trial, the DWP said the information had been destroyed "in accordance with departmental records management practices" and in line with data protection.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
A brand of one's own: how Denmark's women are redrawing fashion's rules
Football fans will be familiar with the manager musical chairs, but fashion has been strangely similar over the last year. Since mid-2024 there have been 17 new designers appointed to head up houses including Gucci and Dior. But, in an industry fuelled by womenswear, just four of these appointments have been women. And there are other depressing statistics. Of the top 30 luxury brands in the Vogue Business Index, a mere five creative directors are women. At Kering, the luxury conglomerate that owns Balenciaga and Valentino, there is just one: Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta. At LVMH, the fashion behemoth that counts Loewe and Dior among its brands, again, just one label is helmed by a woman – Sarah Burton at Givenchy. There's more. In February, research by 1Granary found that 74% of students at top fashion programmes are female, yet 88% of fashion's top designer roles are held by men. The last time a woman won designer of the year at the Fashion awards was in 2012. And it's not just designers. The majority of those in positions of power at brands, such as CEOs and executives, are also male. There is an anomaly, though. This week, the 19th iteration of Copenhagen fashion week (CPHFW), known in the industry as the fifth fashion week, is being held in the Danish capital. Of the 42 brands participating, 26 are founded and led by females. Stine Goya – who now sells her eponymous label in over 30 countries, with the US being its second-biggest market outside Denmark – describes men's continual domination of the fashion industry as 'outdated'. Denmark's structural approach to equality, she says, has become a key instigator of change, with policies aimed at improving wage equality and schemes to encourage women to return to work after having children. 'Copenhagen has become an ecosystem for independent female-led brands,' she told me. 'There is a spirit of collaboration here, and a willingness to do things differently. It has allowed women to take up space and build businesses on their own terms.' Stephanie Gundelach co-founded OpéraSport, a brand that specialises in creating contemporary wardrobe staples from upcycled materials, with Awa Malina Stelter in 2019. Gundelach says much of their motivation comes from the desire to overcome this type of gender inequality. 'There is an unspoken bias in the fashion industry where often women have to work twice as hard to be seen as equally visionary. In Copenhagen, there is a shift happening. Women are building their own platforms rather than waiting for a seat at someone else's table.' Fashion's idea of what a woman should look like impacts everything, from the models who appear on the catwalks to the design of the clothes. In 2024, for instance, 1.4% of models on the catwalks at CPHFW were plus-size while in New York, London, Milan and Paris just 0.8% of models were plus-size. Cecilie Bahnsen, who popularised the idea of wearing intricate and romantic dresses with practical trainers, says that as a woman designing for other women her ethos is based around comfort. 'There is an ease to my pieces. They don't outshine you.' 'A lot of women want to wear something different to what male designers suggest they should wear,' says Anne Sofie Madsen, who this week relaunched her namesake brand with a new co-creative director, the stylist Caroline Clante. 'We look at clothing with a female gaze. Our customers are not only dressing to be desired or admired, but also to be themselves.' This season's collection included a pair of 'evening jeans', as well as meme-able 'rat bags'. While the creative jobs at the top of the fashion industry have become synonymous with burnout, Danish designers take a more holistic approach to work-life balance, in line with Danish work culture generally. Madsen, who prior to launching her own label in 2011 worked alongside designers including Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, credits fashion's traditional gauntlet of endless travelling, long hours and expectations to produce more than six collections a year as a catalyst for her hitting pause on her brand in 2017. 'I realised that I was living a life that I didn't want to live,' she says. 'I wanted to figure out a different way to be in fashion.' Now, Madsen and Clante are determined to build their brand to work around their lives, rather than making the brand their whole existence. Madsen is continuing to teach at the Scandinavian Academy of Fashion Design and Clante works as a freelance stylist. Sign up to Fashion Statement Style, with substance: what's really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved after newsletter promotion Bahnsen, who started showing in Paris in 2022, has kept her atelier based in Copenhagen, describing it as 'her bubble'. She allows her team of 26 women and four men to work flexible hours and discourages working at weekends. Gundelach and Stelter will often finish work at 3pm in order to spend time with their families, and Bahnsen's five-year-old son is a regular sight in her atelier. Livia Schück, co-founder of Rave Review – who this season showed delicate boho-inspired dresses and skirts made from deadstock – took her post-show bow while holding her five-month-old daughter. 'We don't have a culture where you need to stay until five or six because that's not workable when you have small kids,' says Stelter. 'Our workers know what we expect of them, but they have the freedom to work flexibly. As long as the work is getting done we are happy.' Many Danes talk about the 'law of Jante', a sort of Scandinavian social code based on the idea that no one is better than anyone else. Gundelach describes how it feeds into 'a collaborative rather than competitive energy' and says that 'there is a strong community of female creatives lifting each other up, which I feel is quite rare'. Goya credits 'a sense of openness' and an 'ambitious creative scene' as a driving force for independent female designers. 'It's not been about having an ego. It is about building a team, a brand and a community.' As Isabella Rose Davey, chief operating officer of CPHFW, points out, the women paving a new path in the industry hope that others will follow their lead. 'It is modern, forward thinking like this that we need to see more of outside Denmark to ensure that women are not locked out of senior positions.' To read the complete version of this newsletter – complete with this week's trending topics in The Measure – subscribe to receive Fashion Statement in your inbox every Thursday.
Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
More electric cars eligible for new Government grants
Thirteen more electric car models are eligible for new Government grants. Drivers can save £1,500 with the purchase of certain Nissan, Renault and Vauxhall models, the Department for Transport (DfT) said. The discount will be automatically applied at the point of sale. This comes after four Citroen cars were announced as the first grant-eligible models on Tuesday. More models are expected to be approved in the coming weeks as manufacturers' applications are assessed against sustainability standards. The new £650 million electric car grant scheme enables motorists purchasing some new electric cars costing up to £37,000 to save either £1,500 or £3,750, depending on the vehicle's green credentials. All models announced so far are eligible for grants of £1,500. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: 'With discounts on 17 car models announced this week alone, we're delivering on our promise to make it easier and cheaper for families to go electric. 'This is about backing drivers, putting money back into people's pockets and creating the jobs and growth that will drive Britain forward.' The DfT has previously said many drivers cite upfront costs as a 'key barrier' to buying an EV and the grant will bring down prices so they 'more closely match their petrol and diesel counterparts'. However, shadow transport secretary Richard Holden said: 'Labour ministers' decision to hand £650 million of taxpayers' money to foreign car companies, for cars made in foreign countries, is deranged. 'This latest mess with a confused rollout and botched incentives is only making things worse. 'Labour has put ideological obsession ahead of hard pressed taxpayers, who are staring down the barrel of billions in tax rises to come after Labour's disastrous massive tax hike budget last year that has already seen over 100,000 people join the dole queue. 'Labour's heavy-handed meddling is damaging confidence, placing British jobs at risk, and putting the brakes on competition. 'Consumers and the market should be trusted to drive the transition to cleaner technologies, not this clueless Government.' RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: 'Another wave of cars qualifying for the Government's revamped electric car grant is yet more welcome news. 'It's also very positive to see other manufacturers that don't meet the grant's green production targets lowering their prices. 'Those looking to make the switch now have a wider choice of better-value vehicles than ever before. This can only help speed up the transition to electric motoring.' Online vehicle marketplace Auto Trader said it has seen a spike in interest for electric cars since the grant was announced, with interest in some brands trebling. James Taylor, managing director of Nissan Motor GB, said the announcement that its models will be eligible is 'an exciting step in the UK's electrification journey'. Steve Catlin, his counterpart at Vauxhall, said the manufacturer has been 'committed to electrifying Britain for years'. Under the Government's zero emission vehicle (Zev) mandate, at least 28% of new cars sold by each manufacturer in the UK this year must be zero emission, which generally means pure electric. Across all manufacturers, the figure during the first half of the year was 21.6%. Colin Walker, head of transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank, warned that the impact of the electric car grant scheme could be 'undermined' by recent changes to the Zev mandate which mean it will be easier for manufacturers who do not meet the targets to avoid fines. He added that this risks 'driving down EV sales'. The Government has pledged to ban the sale of new fully petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030. Here are the models eligible for the electric car grant: Citroen: e-C3, e-C4, e-C5 and e-Berlingo. Renault: Alpine A290, Megane, 4, 5 and Scenic. Nissan Micra and Ariya (discounts on the Ariya will be available at dealerships from August 13) Vauxhall: Corsa Electric, Combo Life Electric, Astra Electric, Mokka Electric, Frontera Electric and Grandland Electric.
