“Dead law” – Hubig criticizes Reich’s draft law for fuel price caps

Federal Justice and Consumer Protection Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) sharply criticized Economics Minister Katherina Reiche's (CDU) bill for a fuel price cap and called for improvements. An investigation says: “If the fuel price cap is designed as proposed, then it will remain dead law,” Hubig told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (“NOZ”). “It shouldn’t end up being a paper tiger.”

The minister expressed doubts as to whether the previous draft of the coalition agreement was fair. “Consumers need an effective law that makes a noticeable difference at the pump,” said Hubig. That’s why “we’ll have to do a bit of tweaking”.

In addition, the maximum price regulation should be limited to a maximum of three months. If there is an impending threat to security of supply, the price cap should be suspended.

In September, the coalition committee made up of the Union and the SPD decided to reintroduce the fuel discount from October 1st. Reiche wants to link the fuel price cap agreed in the coalition to price developments in other European countries. Accordingly, a legal basis for a price cap should be created, but this will not be introduced automatically.

According to the draft, various exceptions to the fuel price cap should also be provided. A state maximum price must “remain strictly limited in time,” Politico quoted from the draft. The law does not automatically introduce a price cap, but rather first creates the legal possibility of doing so.

Fuel price cap does not apply to supply problems

In addition, the federal and state governments should be able to suspend the price cap if supply problems threaten. The states can therefore generally deviate from the nationwide maximum price, upwards and downwards, even for individual districts or smaller areas.

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil's finance ministry is also 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.