On the one hand, they said in essence and then they took it and for some reason added stupidity about energy
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I’ll clarify using the example of the city of Frankfurt am Main, the Meyans have friends living there, I talked with them. A classic large German city, residential areas with a huge number of private shops, cafes, etc. establishments.
And indeed, if we compare with 2018, for example, then many of these establishments have closed. This is true !
But, there are nuances ... These private "companies" were closed not by a surge in energy prices, but by a lack of buyers .... More precisely, a noticeable drop in consumer demand and purchasing opportunities during COVID19. This sector of business operates, locally, for a local group of buyers. And the physical cessation of the supply of products to shops / cafes / pubs + a ban on visiting = as a result gave a sharp and large decrease in the income of the owners of these "companies". At the same time, tax costs and business maintenance costs (rent, gas, electricity, water supply, ....) have not gone away. Those. the key reason is by no means electricity, especially since it has not risen in price much after the economic terrorism against the EU, which Russia arranged.
The reasons are much more banal, they are in the field of a sharp drop in the income of small / small businesses / companies ...