Deputy of the union parliamentary group, Sepp Müller (CDU), has called on the competition authority to step in because of the sharp rise in fuel prices. “The cartel office must now be threatened with the sharpest sword” Müller told the news portal T‑Online. “One thing is clear: the gouging at the pumps must stop”.
Under Paragraph 32 f of the Act against Restraints of Competition, the authority can impose not only fines but also direct interventions in a company. Müller said, “What is happening now is absolutely disproportionate”. He and Armand Zorn (SPD) lead a task force established by the coalition of black and red parties following the start of the Iran war. The group monitors the economic and energy‑price effects of the conflict.
Müller added that some oil companies may have been betting on a return to a fuel‑discount scheme that, last year, cost taxpayers 3.3 billion euros. “We want to solve this with the clear rules of market economics” he said. “We invite the cartel office and the oil companies to our next task‑force meeting”.