States are calling on the Federal Council for more reliability against high energy prices

There are demands from the countries for more reliability and a more comprehensive approach leads to high energy prices. The renewed fuel discount of 17 cents per liter is important for people, said Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) in the Federal Council. «But it won't be enough. In my opinion, the fuel needs to be under 2 euros again.” There also needs to be a fuel price cap and a tax on “extremely maximized” profits of oil companies. Anyone who rejects an excess profits tax is welcome to suggest another instrument.

Schwesig emphasized that the issue of affordable living for local people is fundamental. “A democracy only remains stable if the people who live in a democracy feel that the state supports them.” With a view to the elections in her state and in Saxony-Anhalt with gains made by the AfD, she criticized the end of the previous fuel discount at the end of June by the black-red coalition in the federal government. “They simply let the fuel discount expire in the hope that somehow things would work out.”

“Energy policy is the social question of this time”

Thuringia's Prime Minister Mario Voigt (CDU) also said that the price of fuel must be below 2 euros per liter again. He also called for a holistic approach and emphasized: “Energy policy is the social question of this time.” In contrast to the end of the fuel discount and now the new start, “reliability instead of stop and go” is needed. Voigt called for national CO2 pricing for fuels to be suspended in the current high price phase.

Bremen's mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) said the fuel discount worked quickly and was necessary now. But he added: "We cannot spend billions every time there is a new oil price shock to make gasoline and diesel cheaper across the board." More targeted relief is needed, because now a nurse with a long commute is treated in the same way as someone who could cope with higher fuel prices. He also called for the introduction of an excess profits tax, which is “a profoundly market economy instrument”.