Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Katherina Reiche of the CDU, has called for the swift reduction of the electricity tax. According to Reiche’s remarks to the “Rheinische Post”, the reduction should take place as soon as the federal budget allows for the financial space. She noted that the Federal Minister of Finance has assured that all options to lower the electricity tax for everyone will be examined. Furthermore, Reiche emphasized that the coalition factions, particularly the Union faction, have been advocating for this tax reduction.
Reiche also defended the current market pricing structure at gas stations, including the ’12 PM rule’ and the gas discount. She stated that fixing the price once gives customers greater reliability at the pumps. Moreover, the discount has helped soften the impact of steep price hikes, with the discount being passed from the petroleum industry directly to the consumers. While acknowledging that the government is indeed mitigating price increases for gasoline and diesel, the minister made it clear that the government’s role is not to subsidize vacation flights.
Regarding the potential extension of the gas price discount beyond the summer holidays, Reiche reported that there are currently “no fixed decisions”.