WIESBADEN (dpa-AFX) – Only a few countries in Europe have higher fuel prices than Germany. EU-wide, the local diesel price is only exceeded by Finland and Sweden, as shown by figures published by the Federal Statistical Office on Monday. In addition, fuel is also more expensive in Switzerland, according to data from the Touring Club Switzerland.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, diesel cost 2.06 euros per liter in Germany as of April 4th. That is 45 cents more than in neighboring Poland. More recent figures are available for Germany, where the price recently dropped a few cents to an average of EUR 1.995 on Sunday, but not on a comparable basis for the other EU countries.
Diesel is also much cheaper in other neighboring countries than in Germany, for example in Luxembourg at 1.76 euros, Austria at 1.84 euros and France at 1.89 euros. With a falling price difference, the neighboring countries are followed by Denmark and the Czech Republic with 1.93 euros, Belgium with 2.02 euros and the Netherlands with 2.04 euros. According to the data, the cheapest diesel in the EU is in Malta at 1.21 euros per liter and in Hungary at 1.42 euros.
Germany is also one of the most expensive countries in Europe when it comes to E5 premium petrol. On April 4, Germany was the third most expensive country in the EU, together with Greece, at EUR 2.06 per liter. The local prices were exceeded by Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark, while Switzerland is on a similar scale to Germany. The cheapest neighboring country for E5 is Poland with 1.42 euros per liter. Here the price difference is 64 cents. It is followed by Austria with 1.72, Luxembourg with 1.73, the Czech Republic with 1.81 and France with 1.83 euros per liter.
A key reason for the differences are different taxes. Some countries such as Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands have also reduced taxes in response to the extreme increase in fuel prices caused by the war in Ukraine.
Overall, the Ukraine war is making itself felt more at the German gas pump than in most other EU countries, according to data published weekly by the EU Commission. For example, diesel was 39.5 cents more expensive in Germany (as of April 4) than before the Ukraine war (as of February 21). Only for Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Latvia are there slightly stronger increases in absolute numbers.
In most other EU countries, on the other hand, the increases compared to the level before the beginning of the war are significantly lower – which can also be due to tax cuts or other government measures. The weighted average of the EU countries was only up 27 cents – here too, however, the tax cuts in some countries are having a dampening effect./ruc/DP/jha