Veronika Grimm, the former Minister of Economics who also sits on the supervisory board of Siemens Energy, criticized the plan to allow fuel stations to raise prices only once a day.
“Austria’s model-permits a single daily price hike-will probably fall flat” she told the “Rheinische Post” Thursday edition. “Why bother? In the worst case stations might raise prices even more pre‑emptively to make sure they can pass on the increases that refineries impose”.
Grimm says the move is politically motivated. “People expect that something will be done-so we do something. The measure won’t harm anyone. The key is to avoid a fuel discount” she added.
Regarding the release of the national oil reserves, she cautioned against acting too early. “In making decisions, we must remember that the crisis could last longer and the reserves are limited. We shouldn’t tap them all at once” she said. “At the same time, it is sensible to shield people from the impacts, precisely because we have those reserves for that purpose”.
