Germany’s federal Minister of Economy, Katherina Reiche (CDU), raised criticism against the oil industry following a sharp rise in fuel prices. “It is remarkable that German stations have seen higher increases than the European average” she said on Tuesday in Berlin. “The petrochemical sector has offered no convincing explanation for this, and that is why we will act”.
Reiche explained that the country has witnessed up to a dozen price changes in a single day, which creates confusion rather than clarity or market transparency. To address this, she introduced a package of measures last week aimed, among other things, at limiting the number of price adjustments that can occur at a single station in a day.
According to the minister, the package has already entered interdepartmental consultations. “I expect the parliament to debate the draft bill in its first reading this week so that the legislative process can be completed by the end of March, at the latest early April” the CDU politician added.
