Fuel groups to be restrained

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coaliton government on Friday reacted to mounting public criticism of unfounded fuel price swings, saying it was willing to prepare a draft bill which would aim to put fuel companies in their place.

The government hoped that legislation could be passed before the parliament's summer break and promised to look into a number of schemes aimed at making it impossible for companies to raise fuel prices at random and several times a day without prior knowledge of consumers.

"I believe policymakers have to exhaust all existing possibilities and consider new instruments to make fuel prices more transparent," Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen told reporters in Berlin.

Röttgen accused the five leading fuel companies in Germany - Aral, Esso, Jet, Shell and Total - of ripping off customers at fuel stations, particularly ahead of weekends and public holidays.

No scheme is perfect

The upper chamber of the national parliament, the Bundesrat, on Friday urged the government to move swiftly on the issue. In its regular session, it debated the pros and cons of various models practiced in other nations.

The Bundesrat in particular looked at a practice in place in western Australia where fuel providers have to fix and announce the price a day earlier before it comes into effect so that consumers can decide in advance when to fill up their cars for less money.

Legislators also spoke about a model practiced in neighboring Austria where fuel companies are allowed to raise prices only once a day. But critics of both examples stated that while price transparency could be enhanced that way, the two schemes were not suited to actually bring down fuel prices permanently.

The government said it would continue to focus more on fair competition between fuel station operators and with it help reduce prices in general.

hg/cmk (Reuters, dpa, AFP)