The recently unusually high petrol prices in Germany are now also occupying more and more authorities.

After the Federal Government announced that the Federal Cartel Office would keep an eye on developments, the Federal Statistical Office is apparently also dealing with the issue more intensively than in the past.

In a report published on Monday, it is comparatively offensive that fuel prices in Germany have recently been unusually high compared to other countries: "Petrol and diesel have recently been significantly more expensive at German filling stations than in most of Germany's direct neighbors," the discs said Statistician.

According to this, car drivers in Germany paid an average daily rate of 2

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in Business.

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On this date, super prices were only higher in the Netherlands at EUR 2.11 and Denmark at EUR 2.09, while diesel was cheaper in both countries than in Germany.

Poland, on the other hand, had to pay the least.

In Austria, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Belgium and France, refueling was cheaper than in Germany.

In general, refueling remained significantly more expensive in the first week of April than before the war in Ukraine, even if prices fell again from their highs in the second and third weeks of March.

On March 10, for example, E5 still cost 2.26 euros, diesel even 2.33 euros per liter.

On February 21, shortly before the start of the war, it was only 1.80 euros and 1.66 euros for diesel.

France has introduced the tank discount

Various experts in Germany, including those from the ADAC automobile club, had pointed out that the price of crude oil had fallen significantly again during the course of the Ukraine war, but that the price of petrol did not reflect this.

This fueled speculation that the oil companies had seized the opportunity to expand their margins.

In the meantime, both the price for Super E10 and for diesel have fallen below 2 euros per liter on average, as the ADAC announced on Monday: to 1.995 euros for diesel and 1.961 euros for Super E10.

It is unclear whether the announcement by the Federal Government that the Federal Cartel Office should take a closer look at the matter contributed to the price drop: "We don't know that - but the announcement by the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs certainly did not do any harm," said an ADAC spokesman.

The oil price has fallen from just under $140 a barrel (159 liter barrel) for North Sea Brent to below $100 at times.

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) not only announced that the Cartel Office would look at the price development.

He had also promised additional competencies of the office.

A so-called sector analysis for the refinery market, which was actually announced ten years ago, had apparently not been pursued further by the office.

At that time, the cartel watchdogs had explained very precisely how the oil companies always raise or lower prices in a fixed order one after the other and thus come to an “implicit coordination”, i.e. an unspoken agreement – ​​without explicit price agreements being proven.

At that time, the authorities still wanted to look at the refineries separately;

but apparently nothing ever came of it.

The petroleum industry itself had not denied that some Western refineries made very good money from expensive petrol - even if there were differences depending on the location.

In any case, Putin was not the big beneficiary of the high petrol prices in Germany, it was said.

In the end, the local oil companies deliberately avoided deliveries from Russia on a large scale.

With regard to the figures presented by the Federal Statistical Office on Monday, Christian Küchen, the general manager of the Fuels and Energy trade association, also referred to the different burdens on fuels with taxes and duties in the various countries.

France introduced a “tank discount” on April 1, and the Netherlands reduced taxes.

Poland had already reduced VAT in February.

For the Easter holidays, the Federal Statistical Office has now announced lower prices at petrol stations abroad.

If you drive to Italy, you can expect slightly lower fuel prices there than in Germany, based on the situation as of April 4th.

A liter of E5 cost 1.79 euros there, and a liter of diesel also cost 1.79 euros.

In Croatia and Hungary, too, refueling was significantly cheaper than in Germany.

Those who move to Sweden, on the other hand, have to pay significantly more than in these countries: A liter of E5 cost 2.03 euros there on April 4 and a liter of diesel costs 2.44 euros.

In general, however, at least in previous years, the price of petrol has often risen in time for the wave of Easter travel.