BERLIN: German lawmakers have backed a temporary fuel-tax cut worth €2.5bil (US$2.8bil) starting next week as Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition seeks to ease the burden of surging prices on consumers.
The measure, a three-month reduction of as much as 17 euro cents (US$0.19) a litre for gasoline and diesel, passed both houses of Germany’s parliament last Friday so it can take effect Oct 1.
Merz’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) suffered three bruising defeats in state elections this month, with voters taking aim at the political establishment and the far-right Alternative for Germany gaining support.
Manuela Schwesig, the Social Democrat premier of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in north-eastern Germany, said the issue of record fuel prices was central to voter concerns. Her SPD came second to the AfD in the state vote there, though will likely be able to revive a governing coalition.
“In recent weeks, the only topic was people saying: Frau Schwesig, we can’t cope anymore with €2.50 at the pump,” Schwesig told Bundesrat delegates last Friday.
“And the people showed us that in the election,” she said, adding that the fuel rebate being pushed through won’t be enough to assuage consumers. Merz’s CDU failed to meet the 5% threshold to enter the regional assembly, a first for the conservative party since the foundation of the federal republic in 1949. — Bloomberg
