German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche has presented a draft law that would create the legal basis for a cap on petrol and diesel prices. The proposal does not introduce an automatic cap, as the Social Democratic Party had called for; the federal government would decide whether to activate it.
The government could do so only if fuel prices rose in each of three consecutive weeks by more than five percentage points above the average price increases in other EU countries. Even then, the legal basis for the cap would last for only three months.
The draft makes the proposed intervention conditional on a sustained rise in prices relative to those elsewhere in the EU. The article describes this as a notably cautious approach to the goal of limiting fuel costs.
Sources: Handelsblatt.