Verina Bentele, president of the German Social Association “VDK,” said that about half of households in major German cities spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent, and that a quarter of households spend at least 40 percent of their income on rent.

She called on the government to establish framework conditions to ensure that everyone has access to housing, electricity, heating, and healthy food at reasonable prices, It also called for adjusting the housing allowance for low-income earners so that it keeps pace annually with rising energy costs, and argued that the state should provide social compensation for low wages in light of the massive increases in energy prices.

In this context, consumer associations and social organizations in Germany have called on the government to ease the burden on citizens amid rising energy prices.

In remarks to the German newspaper *Der Tagesspiegel* published yesterday, Klaus Müller, CEO of the Federal Association of Consumer Centers, said that if energy and gasoline prices continue to rise, this portends a “a tragic social upheaval.”

According to “Deutsche Welle,” he added that the government must urgently reduce its current reliance on energy imports, focus on energy conservation, and prevent energy poverty.

Müller expressed his belief that the profits from high gasoline and gas prices are currently flowing to countries including Russia and Norway, noting that this means these increases are not being channeled into environmental investments or used to compensate consumers for rising prices ”through the revenue the government collects from the carbon tax on energy.”