High fuel prices will be reduced for three months through a state-subsidized “fuel discount“. After the Bundestag, the Bundesrat also gave the green light to this relief measure. In a roll call vote in the Bundestag, 434 of the 562 deputies voted “for“ and 128 – “against“. In order for the law to enter into force on October 1 as planned, the signature of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is now required.
The legislative act reduces the energy tax on diesel and gasoline by 14.04 cents per liter. Including VAT, this results in a total reduction of 16.7 cents per liter. The state expects a loss of tax revenue of up to 2.5 billion euros - a cost that the federal government and the German states intend to share equally.
No new obligations for mineral concerns
The regulation does not contain an obligation for the oil industry to pass on the tax reduction in full to the end customers at gas stations - but the government clearly expresses this expectation. In addition, an agreement has been reached on a "fuel price cap", which should limit the possibility of price increases. However, this measure will only be introduced as a crisis instrument at the beginning of 2027.
Criticism from the opposition
The opposition - and in particular the "Greens", the Left and the "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) - has been sharply criticized. The chairwoman of the Green parliamentary group, Katharina Dröge, called the temporary tax cut an "absurd decision." She noted that the relief had not been fully passed on to consumers in May and June, when such a measure was also implemented, and that the cost of the relief now equals the total value of all cuts to family benefits in the federal budget for a year.
The AfD's economic policy spokesman, Life-Erik Holm, said that the state itself was benefiting from high fuel prices. He described the discount as a temporary fix rather than a solution, adding: "State fuel taxes, which are already too high, must be permanently reduced." He also pointed out that the rule limiting gas stations to raising prices only once a day - at noon - has not been beneficial: “This rule has not lowered prices, but raised them, and should be repealed.“