In the dispute over the tank discount, Finance Minister Lindner supports tightening the antitrust law, a proposal by Robert Habeck. “The direction is right,” says Lindner of ZDF.
In ZDF’s “Berlin direct” program, Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner openly supported Economy Minister Robert Habeck (B’90/Greens) and his plans for stricter antitrust legislation. Habeck even received an order to review antitrust law.
“We wrote that in connection with the aid package, the Cartel Office should be able to control the markets,” Lindner said. Now it depends on the concrete implementation, but:
In this context, Lindner spoke out against a new tax: “I hope the so-called excess profit tax proposal is now off the table,” he said.
Habeck plans to tighten antitrust law
Economy Minister Robert Habeck plans to withdraw profits from lubricant companies, even if there is no evidence of market abuse. According to a strategy paper submitted to ZDF’s capital studio, companies should be able to break up if necessary.
Habeck accuses companies of not passing the so-called tank discount to customers and pocketing themselves. “The profits of the lubricant companies are increasing. It’s pretty clear what’s going on right now,” Habeck said.
30 cents no tax deduction
In turn, Habeck wants to create an opportunity to decouple the lubricants and gas station markets, among other things. In the next step, the Federal Cartel Office should be able to scrape profits faster.
The tank discount took effect on 1 June. Tax rates were reduced by approximately 30 cents per liter for gasoline and 14 cents for diesel. According to ADAC, pump prices have increased again recently.
Source: ZDF
I am Timothy Glover, a professional journalist and content creator. I specialize in writing and editing for news websites, specifically covering politics. I have been working as an author at News Unrolled for the past five years and have built up a reputation for producing quality content that is both informative and engaging.
