Finance senator says the poor should bundle up this winter
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Published: 29 Jul, 2008 CET.
Updated: Tue 29 Jul 2008 09:00 CET
Berlin’s finance senator has suggested that German citizens wear more clothing if they’re concerned with the rising cost of energy as they try to stay warm this winter.
“If energy costs get as high as rents, then people will start to consider whether they can’t live with wearing a thick sweater at a room temperature of 15 or 16 degrees [Celsius],” Thilo Sarrazin told German daily Rheinische Post on Tuesday.
The Berlin politician, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), also rejected suggestions from The Left party that the state help the poor with heating costs.
“Heating costs are included in payments for those who receive unemployment benefits,” he said. “At my house the temperature was always 16 degrees … I survived.”
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“If energy costs get as high as rents, then people will start to consider whether they can’t live with wearing a thick sweater at a room temperature of 15 or 16 degrees [Celsius],” Thilo Sarrazin told German daily Rheinische Post on Tuesday.
The Berlin politician, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), also rejected suggestions from The Left party that the state help the poor with heating costs.
“Heating costs are included in payments for those who receive unemployment benefits,” he said. “At my house the temperature was always 16 degrees … I survived.”
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