Lindner's tank discount flop: Habeck wants "antitrust law with claws and teeth"
Created: 06/13/2022 11:23 am
By: Andreas Schmid
Put your heads together: Robert Habeck, Olaf Scholz and Christian Lindner (from left) hold a cabinet retreat with the entire federal government.
Now they have to take care of the tank discount.
(Archive photo) © OMER MESSINGER/afp
The tank discount enforced by the FDP fizzled out.
Economics Minister Habeck wants to tighten antitrust law, the SPD is also considering driving bans.
Tank discount flop
: fuel price explosion despite traffic light project.
Habeck puts pressure
on: Economics Minister wants to tighten up antitrust law
Driving bans and speed limits?
The SPD is considering alternatives.
This
news ticker on the debate about the tank discount
is constantly updated.
Update from June 13, 9.46 a.m
.: In view of persistently high fuel prices, Robert Habeck wants to submit proposals for stricter antitrust law "as quickly as possible".
"We are doing antitrust law with claws and teeth," said the Green Economics Minister on Deutschlandfunk.
There have been enough warning voices, said Habeck with a view to the tank discount.
But now it's about looking ahead and "not letting yourself be maneuvered into complete helplessness".
He will take responsibility "to make the mess a little less big," said Habeck.
He cannot and will not take the idea of taxing excess profit off the table because he thinks it is the right thing to do.
With a view to the resistance of the FDP, Habeck also said that the taxation of excess profits does not seem to be able to win a majority in the traffic light coalition.
So now antitrust law will be used.
Dispute over fuel discount and antitrust law: FDP parliamentary group leader accuses Habeck of populism
Update from June 12, 5:45 p.m .:
The FDP is outraged by Robert Habeck’s plans to sharpen antitrust law because of the wasted tank discount.
FDP parliamentary group leader Christoph Meyer accuses Habeck of populism.
The Economics Minister should "first and foremost ensure that the tank discount reaches people, instead of using populist suggestions to distract from the fact that this has not happened so far," Meyer told Die
Welt
.
A tightening of antitrust law comes too late and has no impact on the current tank discount.
Habeck himself admitted that the initiative should have come earlier.
"That no longer applies to the tank discount," said the Vice Chancellor of the
world
.
"But it sharpens the swords for the future and sends a clear signal that enrichment at the expense of others is not so easy." to be able to intervene".
The topic remains explosive - and is apparently already causing the next disagreements within the federal government.
Even the SPD doesn't seem completely convinced.
Group Vice Detlef Müller admitted that antitrust law “is reaching its limits” in the case of the tank discount.
The Social Democrats also welcomed Habeck's initiative (see previous update).
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Tank discount flop: SPD thinks about driving bans and speed limits
Update from June 12, 4 p.m.:
The tank discount causes trouble.
Actually, he should relieve the driver - but in reality, the discount at the pump hardly reaches the consumers.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck is therefore planning to tighten up antitrust law (see initial report).
The SPD is thinking about car-free Sundays and stopping the plan put in place by Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP).
As the first Prime Minister, Manuela Schwesig (SPD, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) is even considering ending the tank discount.
"We need an alternative to the tank discount that works and is popular with the public," she told
Bild am Sonntag
, naming an excess profit tax that would put a heavier burden on those who profited from the crisis, such as oil companies.
Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) already has other plans.
He calls for relief in food tax, such as fruit and vegetables.
SPD leader Saskia Esken spoke to the Berliner
Tagesspiegel
about "temporary measures such as Sunday driving bans or a temporary speed limit." The SPD had already considered this scenario, known from the 1970s, at the beginning of March.
Tank discount: Steinmeier understands the anger - "we have to take it seriously"
Update from June 12, 11:18 a.m
.: "We have to take the anger seriously": Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has
shown understanding to the
picture on Sunday that many are outraged by the high fuel prices despite the tank discount
(see initial report)
.
As important as it is to communicate “that the state will not be able to compensate for every increase in prices”, it is also important “that some people cannot take unjustified advantages from the situation.” However, the government must answer the question of which instrument is the right one.
Ukraine war: high prices despite tank discount: Habeck wants to take action on antitrust law
First report from June 12
: Berlin – Despite the tank discount, fuel prices in Germany are high.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck is obviously annoyed by this - and according to a report he now wants to have consequences: stricter antitrust laws.
As
Der Spiegel
reports, according to the plans, the state should be able to siphon off the profits of mineral oil companies without proof of market abuse and, if necessary, break up the companies.
The Green politician Habeck accuses the oil companies of not passing on the tax deduction on petrol and diesel from the 2022 relief package to consumers.
"The first data sets by the Federal Cartel Office on the tank discount show that the gap between crude oil and gas station prices has risen sharply since the beginning of the month," Habeck told
Der Spiegel
.
Apparently, "what many experts had warned about has happened: the mineral oil companies are reaping the profits, the consumers are not noticing the tax cut".
High fuel prices in Germany: corporations observe gas station advertisements
According to the magazine, as a reaction, Habeck is planning a significant tightening of antitrust law, which would enable the competition authorities to intervene structurally in markets - without having to prove a violation of competition law.
A position paper from the Ministry of Economics, from which
Der Spiegel
quotes, says: "There is a parallel behavior in terms of prices in the market." This means that the companies know the prices of their competitors at the gas stations because the market is very transparent.
“This means that even without an anti-trust agreement, the prices are very quickly aligned;
abuse of competition law is difficult to prove.”
The change in antitrust law is intended to create an opportunity to unbundle the mineral oil and gas station market, among other things.
In a further step, the Federal Cartel Office should be able to skim off the profits more quickly.
(AFP/dpa/frs)