The envisioned positive effect of the German government’s rebate on the gasoline tax, making gasoline a bit cheaper for car drivers, has evaporated quickly, because prices have been going up again since June 8. The government has so far vehemently refused to intervene on the oil market, but coming under a lot of flak in the public and media for the flop at the gas stations, Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) is now threatening to use the anti-cartel laws against oil companies—and this option even has the support by otherwise pro-market Finance Minister Christian Lindner (Free Democrats).
“It is good that Robert Habeck has now also taken up this ball,” Lindner said on ARD’s Tagesthemen broadcast last night. He added that it was up to the Cartel Office to examine how exactly fuel prices were made up (strange that this is ostensibly not known to Lindner).
Habeck wants the tightened antitrust law to allow companies to be broken up if necessary. In addition, it should be easier to skim off unlawful profits. That is the gist of a position paper from the German Ministry of Economics. So far, such action has been subject to high hurdles. The Economics Ministry now wants to bring forward the revision of the Act against Restraints of Competition to this year. In the coming weeks, there should be concrete proposals, which implies any action against the oil companies would come only late this year, if not even later. Irony has it that cracking down on the oil sector is on the Greens’ agenda anyway...
Lindner also claimed that prices would still be much higher without the three-month reduction in the energy tax on fuels.
