Germany’s oil industry is warning about potential supply shortages resulting from the planned state fuel price cap. Christian Küchen, CEO of the trade association Fuels und Energie (EN2X), stated in the “Welt am Sonntag” that, unlike the “manageable markets” of Belgium and Luxembourg, which are cited as models, a government price regulation within the highly complex German market-which features 14,000 gas stations-would be “highly complicated and involved considerable additional bureaucracy.”
Küchen cautioned that if a price cap were set “too low,” it could endanger “supply security” in the worst-case scenario. He expressed alignment with the skepticism voiced by Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU) regarding the price cap. While he supports the government’s offer to engage in dialogue, Küchen views the fuel discount as a suitable method for easing the burden on customers.
Sepp Müller, the Union’s deputy faction leader in the Bundestag, also welcomed the fuel discount. Speaking to the “Welt am Sonntag,” he emphasized that “we cannot leave the people and businesses alone with the high fuel prices.” He stressed that “it is important that the agreed relief quickly and noticeably reaches the pump.” Müller concluded that if further measures prove necessary, they must be even more targeted, adding, “That is what we have agreed upon. The federal government must now work toward that.”
