Bad Staffelstein (dpa / lby) – CSU parliamentary group leader Thomas Kreuzer calls for “state intervention” to limit fuel prices. “It’s quite obvious that the market here in Germany isn’t working,” said Kreuzer on Tuesday at the fall retreat of the CSU parliamentary group in the Upper Franconian monastery of Banz. That’s why you have to have the courage to quickly break new ground that you haven’t had to go before. “We need state intervention – either through a massive tightening of antitrust law or other regulatory measures,” said Kreuzer. The CSU politician was not more specific – but he emphasized: “It is not possible at the moment to let the free market run to the full extent.”
Kreuzer argued that mineral oil prices had by no means exploded like natural gas – but heating oil, diesel and petrol had become massively more expensive. The tank discount was not fully received by the citizens either. The antitrust law seems to be going wrong here, said Kreuzer and criticized: “In my view, it’s being massively cashed in here.” But one is in a crisis and cannot allow the corporations to maximize their profits.
When asked, Kreuzer said that one might also have to think about “whether the state should also subsidize an energy price, depending on whether this is necessary”. In any case, it is better to tackle the original problem and spend money on it – instead of letting the energy prices explode and then giving money back to the citizens and the economy through grants and the like. Nevertheless, such grants are now needed first, he emphasized.
Apart from that, the CSU calls for an electricity price brake as well as a gas price brake. “We need a brake and a lid that controls the price so that gas remains affordable,” said Kreuzer.
Kreuzer admitted that the CSU is a party that normally does not want regulatory intervention in the market. But if you find out that it doesn’t work, you have to act quickly.
