An economist who also serves on the supervisory board of Siemens Energy, Veronika Grimm, sharply criticized a proposal to restrict fuel‑station price hikes to only one change per day. She told the Thursday edition of the “Rheinische Post” that the Austrian model would likely be ineffective. “What’s the point? In the worst case, stations will raise prices even more aggressively to ensure the hikes imposed by refineries are fully passed on” Grimm said.
Grimm sees the measure as primarily politically driven. “People expect that something will be done-so something is done. The measure itself does not cause harm; the only downside is that no gas‑discount policy is introduced” she added.
When discussing the release of national oil reserves, Grimm warned against an overly hasty approach. “Any decision must recognize that the crisis may last longer and that reserves are limited. Therefore, you should not exhaust them too early” she said. “At the same time, it makes sense to cushion the impact-after all, reserves exist for that purpose”.