The state cuts taxes, but fuel prices remain high. The suspicion: The oil multinationals put money in their own pockets. Economics Minister Robert Habeck now wants to tighten antitrust law. Previously, calls for a tougher crackdown had been growing louder.
In the dispute over the tank discount, Economics Minister Robert Habeck is now threatening the mineral oil companies with tightening antitrust laws. If necessary, the Greens politician also wants to enable the companies to be broken up. In addition, it should be easier to siphon off illegal profits.
This is essentially a position paper from the Federal Ministry of Economics, which was first reported on by the “Spiegel” on Sunday. So far, such an approach has been subject to high hurdles. “A right that cannot be used is not in the interests of the inventor,” said Habeck.
In Habeck’s view, the mineral oil companies have not sufficiently passed on the reduction in energy tax at the pump. The Bundeskartellamt’s first data sets on the tank discount show that the gap between crude oil and gas station prices has increased sharply since the beginning of the month. “Obviously, what many experts had warned about has happened: the mineral oil companies are reaping the profits, the consumers are not noticing the tax cut,” said Habeck.
Before that, dissatisfaction with the limited effect of the fuel price brake had grown in the opposition, but also in the traffic light coalition itself. After the drop in price as a result of the tax cut on Wednesday last week, fuel had become significantly more expensive again.
Numerous top politicians unanimously called on Habeck, the responsible minister, to take action against the mineral oil companies. The accusation: the companies put at least part of the tax reduction in their own pockets. The industry itself once again referred to rising procurement costs. That eats up the tax relief.
Even Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier intervened: “I understand the resentment of the citizens when many have to limit themselves and make some extra profits,” said Steinmeier of “Bild am Sonntag”. , that we tell the citizens that the state will not be able to compensate for every increase in price, it is also important that we ensure that some people cannot take unjustified advantages from the situation answer the government.
The Economics Ministry now wants to bring forward the revision of the law against restraints of competition to this year. Concrete proposals will be made in the coming weeks. The basic goal is to sharpen the weapons of the cartel office. However, it was also emphasized: “Such a tightening of competition law cannot have a short-term effect in the current situation, but it can give the state the necessary strength to intervene better in the future.”
Overall, the companies know about the prices of their competitors at the petrol stations because the market is very transparent. “This means that even without an anti-trust agreement, the prices are very quickly aligned; an abuse of competition law is difficult to prove.” Therefore, in the future, “abuse-independent unbundling” should also be possible “in order to create competition on consolidated markets”.
The petroleum industry strictly rejected the plans. “We consider considerations of sanctioning companies in the future without proof of violations or even wanting to break them up to be very problematic and from the point of view of the companies affected are incomprehensible,” said Adrian Willig, Managing Director of the Fuels and Energy Industry Association. “The energy tax cut will be passed on.” However, fuel prices have risen worldwide in recent weeks. “This is also noticeable at the gas stations in Germany.”
The FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr had demanded on Saturday in the “Bild”: “Minister Habeck must now put pressure on and, together with the Federal Cartel Office, ensure that the relief takes effect.” It must be prevented that the mineral oil industry does not pass on the tank discount in full .
The deputy leader of the Union faction, Jens Spahn (CDU), also called on the Minister of Economics to act: “The tank discount, worth billions, seeps away and the traffic light is watching. Ordering the oil multinationals to report is the least that Economics Minister Habeck can do.”
The head of the SPD emphasized in the “Tagesspiegel” that the tax rebate on fuel will cost taxpayers around three billion euros. “The fact that the mineral oil companies are not now passing on this price reduction in full to the consumer stinks to high heaven.” The Cartel Office must intervene. Saskia Esken also thinks a temporary speed limit and Sunday driving bans are conceivable.
Left faction leader Dietmar Bartsch rejected driving bans. “Robert Habeck should summon the mineral oil companies to the fuel summit and strictly control prices from now on,” Bartsch told the editorial network Germany (RND). Instead of a driving ban, which hits the citizens, there is a need for maximum state prices at the pumps at times. “Competition can take place underneath, in favor of consumers and at the expense of oil company profits.”
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing emphasized on Deutschlandfunk that the Federal Cartel Office must examine any profit-taking. The FDP politician ruled out changes to the tank discount or even abolition. There was a legislative process for reducing the energy tax. Therefore, the regulation cannot be changed at short notice.
