Merkel Taken On by Kraft as Power Costs Open Second Crisis Front

Hannelore Kraft, Germany’s most powerful Social Democratic state leader, called on Angela Merkel to use tax revenue to cut electricity costs for consumers, raising pressure on the chancellor before talks in Berlin.

Kraft, the SPD prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, called for a 25 percent reduction in power taxes to lower consumer bills by 1.6 billion euros ($2.1 billion). The proposal runs counter to an alternative plan set out by Merkel’s Christian Democratic-led government.