German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) is maintaining his position on market intervention measures to address the fuel price crisis, even after Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) rejected such approaches. "The most effective action right now is market intervention. We're seeing this in other European countries," Klingbeil stated in an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung (Saturday edition). "And I think we should have that courage too."
His proposed plan encompasses three distinct steps. Klingbeil mentioned a windfall profits tax, which is now also being examined by the European Commission. "This way, we can skim off crisis profits and use them for real relief for citizens."
As a second measure, the SPD leader proposed reducing energy taxes to bring immediate relief at gas pumps. The third element, he explained, would be "that we limit prices with a flexible maximum price per liter of gasoline and diesel," said Klingbeil. "We need a price ceiling."
Merz and Economy Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) have declined the measures Klingbeil is demanding. The Chancellor stated on Thursday that he does not want "interventions in the market that lead to supply shortages."
"I can no longer explain to anyone why in Belgium, Luxembourg, or Greece - none of which are communist countries - the government limits prices while ours are going through the roof," Klingbeil told Süddeutsche Zeitung. The very fragile ceasefire in the Iran war unfortunately is not leading to prices coming down quickly. "I'm not getting my hopes up about that right now."
At the same time, the Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor emphasized returning potential additional state revenues from the crisis to citizens. "I will definitely not become a crisis profiteer," he told the newspaper. Should there be additional value-added tax revenues, these would be used to finance relief measures. However, the calculations in his ministry are clear: "So far, we have no additional revenues because people are now automatically driving less."
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