The fuel prices, which have risen sharply because of the Ukraine war, are a burden for many people in Germany. But that should be the end of it now. According to a report by image-Newspaper from Sunday (March 13, 2022) Finance Minister Christian Lindner is planning a financial Relief for drivers. Accordingly, the minister still wants to current week a state”tank discount” introduce.
According to the image-Zeitung, drivers should be credited the discount directly at the checkout of the petrol station. The discount should be around 20 cents per liter to lie. The exact amount is to be determined in the course of the coming week. the Discount should come “immediately”.it says in the image– Report further.
Fuel prices at a record high: is the “tank discount” coming at German gas stations?
It is not intended that individual fuel receipts will be billed to the stateas Lindner loudly on Monday dpa declared in Berlin. Rather, the state should act with the mineral oil companies “on the basis of the total amount of fuel”. “The crisis discount is faster, higher and less bureaucratic and can therefore make an important contribution to relief for a limited period of time,” said Lindner. The price stays at the pumpas it is now, the discount will then on the fuel bill expelled.
“The goal must be that we lower the price of petrol in Germany again under two euros get,” said the chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, Christian Dürr, on Monday to the broadcasters RTL/ntv about the plans. Commuters and freight forwarders need that now so that the supply chains are not interrupted. “We are in a crisis situation, and the state has to act quickly,” says Dürr.
The government announced on Sunday introduce relief measures for business and consumers. One temporary reduction in VATwhich is demanded by the Union, for example, should not exist according to statements by Lindner and Dürr.
“Highly bureaucratic”: Gas station association criticizes tank subsidy
“If the Union calls for a so-called fuel price brake, then they have to say what they want to cut in the budget,” Lindner told the Berliner daily mirror On Sunday. “Or they have to admit that they are willing to take on new debts.” In addition, the tank subsidy to implement faster and be stronger discounts possible, the FDP politician added loudly on Monday dpa.
People would have to put a brake on fuel prices by reducing taxes weeks or months wait longer because legislation in Germany and possibly also European law would have to be changed. The subsidy for refueling can also be implemented without much bureaucracy, said Lindner.
The Gas Station Association ZTG sees it differently: A discount granted at the gas station is the wrong way, and “highly bureaucratic”. “That would have literally been shot through the chest from behind,” said managing director Jürgen Ziegner loudly dpa. On the one hand, the association criticizes the effort involved in submitting the fuel receipts. On the other hand, independent petrol station operators and medium-sized mineral oil dealers with their own petrol station network could not afford the pre-financing associated with the concept. This can quickly amount to tens of thousands of euros for a gas station. Basically welcome the ZTG any effort to lower fuel prices. The association proposes a instead of the tank subsidy Temporary reduction in energy tax and suspension of the CO2 tax in front.
Decision on the tank subsidy by Wednesday at the latest
Linder and the FDP still stick to their proposal. There must be a new relief package. According to the Minister of Finance, a higher one-off payment for recipients of basic security and other measures should also be examined. According to Lindner, the tank subsidy for diesel and petrol would be reduced by ten cents 550 million euros tax money per month costs. However, it is clear that ten cents and a month’s relief are not enough, and the measure will be correspondingly more expensive.
According to the SPD, the decision on relief should be made quickly. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert said on Monday in Berlin that he saw agreement in the traffic light coalition that concrete decisions should be made this week dpa reported. This is likely to happen no later than Wednesday be the case around the planned meeting of the Federal Cabinet.
“We want to provide targeted relief for households in Germany that are currently being financially overwhelmed through no fault of their own,” emphasized Kühnert. To do this, one should not simply follow the first suggestion that a CDU prime minister makes for fear of a bad election result, said the SPD politician. Saarland’s Prime Minister and CDU top candidate for the upcoming state elections, Tobias Hans, had called for a short-term reduction in VAT for fuel. Kuehnert emphasized: “We don’t want an economic stimulus program for the mineral oil industry in Germany.” However, Kühnert did not want to say what the relief should look like instead.
with dpa