Refueling: The Ministry of Finance is pushing for stricter fuel price caps

Berlin. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil's finance ministry is pushing for the planned fuel price cap to be tightened. What is crucial is that it actually works and prevents rip-offs at the pumps through excessive price jumps, the German Press Agency learned from ministry circles. An effect must be noticeable for consumers.

The federal government is currently discussing a draft for the planned fuel price cap presented by Economics Minister Katherina Reiche. The CDU politician has proposed high hurdles for the instrument: Price increases for diesel or gasoline in three consecutive weeks compared to the previous week must be more than 5 percentage points above the average price increase in the remaining EU countries. In addition, the maximum price regulation should be limited to a maximum of three months.

Klingbeil's ministry, on the other hand, emphasizes that the conditions under which the cap applies must be “sensibly chosen”. It cannot be ruled out that after two weeks of price increases, oil companies temporarily demanded more moderate prices in the third week just to prevent the cap from taking effect. “Such bypasses must be prevented.” The time limit is also too short.