Spritzulage: France plans fuel checks over 100 euros

Status: 07.12.2022 1:00 p.m

Shortly before the expiry of the tank discount in France, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced fuel checks for 100 euros. This time, however, only French people with low incomes should benefit.

In France, people on low incomes are to receive an injection of 100 euros in the coming year if they need their car to get to work. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne told RTL that it was a one-off payment. The 100 euros are to be paid out in January for the whole year. The state wants to provide one billion euros for this.

A fuel check corresponds to a fuel discount of ten cents

“We continue to support low-income French people who need their car to go to work,” said Borne. About ten million people would be entitled to the government subsidy. A low-income couple with two cars can apply for the fuel check twice. Motorcyclists and scooter riders can also benefit from this.

The support corresponds to a tank discount of ten cents per liter for someone who – like the average Frenchman – drives about 12,000 kilometers a year, said Borne. There is currently a tank discount of ten cents per liter on the French mainland. However, this is due to expire at the end of the year. Borne said that anyone who drives around 12,000 kilometers a year also gets a discount of around ten cents per liter of fuel with the Spritzulage.

The rich benefited particularly strongly from the tank discount

Until mid-November, the tank discount in France was still 30 cents per liter. As in Germany, however, experts disagreed with the “lawnmower principle” of the tank discount. They pointed out that rich motorists also benefited from this – and the bigger and more polluting the car, the more. The government in Paris had therefore announced that it would limit aid to those who needed it most.

The conservative Republicans criticized the fuel check as “less efficient than a fuel rebate”. The Socialist Party welcomed the announcement, but complained that the unemployed and pensioners were not included. In principle, higher wages make more sense than checks and bonuses, said the socialist parliamentary group leader Boris Vallaud on the France Inter broadcaster.

At times lively tank tourism to France

The French tank rebate of 30 cents until mid-November had at times led to lively border traffic between Germany and France. After the tank discount of 17 cents per liter of diesel and 35 cents per liter of petrol expired on September 1st, numerous German drivers crossed the border to fill up their tanks and stormed French petrol stations. Many gas stations in the French border area were sold empty for a short time.

Currently, however, there is only a minimal price difference between French and German petrol stations – in favor of German drivers. According to the ADAC, drivers in Germany recently paid an average of EUR 1.74 per liter of premium and EUR 1.84 per liter of diesel (as of December 2nd). In France, drivers had to pay two cents more for the two types of fuel, at 1.76 and 1.86 euros respectively.

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