While the French government has managed to organize “cost price” operations in service stations, among our neighbors, also faced with rising prices at the pump, the strategies are completely different. Panorama.
A check. Or nothing at all… The surge in fuel prices is affecting France like its border neighbors, but the attitude of the authorities can vary from one country to another, with aid measures sometimes more targeted, when certain are even considering increasing certain taxes.
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Thus, if in France, the liter of diesel was on average 1.9410 euros on September 22, and the liter of super unleaded 95 E-10 was 1.9443 euros, according to the latest averages communicated Monday by the Ministry of the Energy Transition, in Italy, we have found the same prices recently. But the bill is steep: the liter of gasoline on the other side of the Alps has increased by 10% in just less than four months, and diesel up to 17% in places.
Italy and the “gasoline bonus”
As in France, the Meloni government wants above all to support the most modest. While the Draghi government had implemented a rebate at the pump, the new Italian executive has introduced a “petrol bonus”, with around 80 euros in aid for households who receive less than 15,000 euros per year. Not at all enough, say some consumer associations there. Another bonus exempt from taxes and charges, of a maximum of 200 euros, can be granted by employers to their employees in the private sector (measure valid until December 31, 2023). Another measure put in place by Rome: the display in stations of the price of a liter of fuel, but also that of the average selling price in the country, so that consumers are aware of the margins applied, and therefore, of the stations where they is the most advantageous to go.
Towards a clear increase in Germany
In Germany, on the other hand, fuels are a little cheaper on average, with 1,856 euros on average for diesel and 1,901 euros on average for SP95-10, but with strong disparities depending on the Länder. A temporary fuel rebate measure was also put in place at the height of inflation, between June and the end of August 2022, but nothing else has been implemented since… But the bad news for the wallets of our neighbors across the Rhine is looming: Berlin will increase the CO2 tax or ecotax on January 1, 2024, which will lead to an increase in the price of fuel estimated at around 1.5 cents per liter gasoline or diesel. The increase was to take place on January 1, 2023, but the federal government postponed it for a year, taking into account the energy crisis.
Finally, in Belgium, the situation is more contrasted. It is, in fact, difficult to compare prices: the federation of fuel traders does not establish an average, but only maximum and minimum prices. If a slight drop in prices has been announced since the start of the week, however, there is no state aid to limit the increase in fuel prices.