Berlin, March 19 (IANS). The impact of the sharp rise in the oil market due to the West Asia crisis is now clearly visible in Europe. Germany’s parliament is set to take an unusual step to curb rising fuel prices.
Germany’s Parliament ‘Bundestag’ is likely to approve a draft law today, under which petrol pumps will be able to increase prices only once a day – at 12 noon. However, prices can be reduced at any time. Those who violate this rule can be fined up to 1 lakh euros.
If this proposal is implemented, long queues may be seen at petrol pumps just before noon, as consumers will try to fill up earlier to avoid increased prices.
In fact, after the US-Israel military action, Germany has been among those European countries where the highest increase in fuel prices has been recorded. Petrol prices rose by 27 cents a liter and diesel by 42 cents a liter compared to the week before the action, according to European Commission data. This increase is significantly higher than the European average—20 cents for petrol and 36 cents per liter for diesel.
It is clear from these figures compiled by ‘Monopolycommission’, an independent economic organization advising the German government, that the country’s consumers are bearing the maximum burden of this global oil crisis.
Armand Zorn, deputy chair of the Social Democrats parliamentary group, has accused the industry of profiteering. “In Germany we don’t have a supply problem, but there is a clear pricing problem,” he told Bild newspaper. Zorn said that hardly any other European country had made such huge profits at the expense of consumers during the crisis.
People are divided over the High Noon Rule (12 o’clock rule) (which will come into effect after being passed by the Bundesrat i.e. the upper house). The Federation of German Industries (BDI) has criticized the tightening of anti-trust laws.
–IANS
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