See our summary below to see what the governments of different European countries are doing to deal with the situation.
United kingdom
This week the UK announced a fuel duty cut of 5p per liter for a full 12 months.
According to Rishi Sunak, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, the 5p cut is the largest reduction in fuel duty rates the UK has ever made. Sunak said the measure, which came into force on Wednesday evening, would save individuals and businesses £5 billion collectively.
Ireland
The Irish government announced a reduction in customs duties of 20% per liter of petrol and 15% per liter of diesel on March 9th. A 2% reduction per liter of green diesel was also agreed upon.
The change will be implemented until the end of August and will cost 320 million euros.
France
France is set to offer a discount of 15 cents per liter on the price of fuel from April 1, it was announced on March 12.
A week later, the French government also decided to allocate immediate aid worth 400 million euros to transport workers. The fund will be allocated to companies operating in the transportation sector based on the number of vehicles and their load. There will be approximately 520,000 vehicles that can receive such a grant.
Transporters can apply for the following amounts under the latest immediate aid:
Goods vehicles with a gross weight of less than 7.5 tons: €400; Goods vehicles with a gross weight between 7.6 tons and 25.9 tons: 600 euros; Goods vehicles with a gross weight of more than 26 tons: 750 euros; Light commercial vehicles: 300 euros.
Germany
After weeks of tension, the Federal Cabinet finally announced a “relief package” yesterday afternoon (March 24) under which the energy tax on fuel will be reduced to a minimum.
According to a press release from the European Railway Network, this reduction in excise duty means that the price of diesel will cost 14 cents per liter less than it currently does.
We expect more details to be published in the coming days.
Spain
Spain pledged €500 million in aid to the transport industry to help reduce diesel prices on Monday, March 21. It is not yet clear how much the current price of just over 1.80 euros per litre will be reduced, and will be determined next Tuesday.
Update: 03/25/2022: It has been agreed that fuel duty will be reduced by 20 cents per liter until 30 June.
Belgium
Earlier this month, Belgium’s ruling coalition agreed to a series of measures to limit the impact of rising energy prices – tariffs on diesel and gasoline were reduced by 17.5 cents per liter on March 15.
This procedure will be amended in mid-June.
Holland
The Dutch government announced on March 10 that, as of April 1, tariffs on gasoline and diesel will be reduced by 21%. Reducing customs duties reduces the price of gasoline by about 17 cents per liter and diesel by about 11 cents per liter.
Italy
On March 23, the Italian government implemented a reduction in the price of fuel duties by 25 cents per liter for everyone until the end of April.
In addition, €500 million of government funding will be allocated to address the critical situation of road transport.
Poland
As part of the Polish government’s “anti-inflation shield”, the country reduced the value-added tax on fuel to zero as of February 1. The country took this step despite claims by UK Conservative politicians that it is impossible to do so within the European Union.
Slovenia
Slovenia imposed a month-long cap on fuel prices on March 15, with the maximum diesel price set at €1,541 per litre.
Hungary
Hungary imposed a fuel price cap in November 2021, with the maximum price for gasoline and diesel set at 480 Hungarian forints.
However, on March 10, the procedure was changed and since then the price cap has not been applied to vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tons if registered abroad and to vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tons if registered in Hungary.
Croatia
Croatia implemented a one-month fuel price cap for the first time last October. Prices were set at 11.10 kuna (1.46 euros) per liter of gasoline and 11.00 kuna (1.45 euros) per liter of diesel. Since then, the cap has been regularly reintroduced.
The latest set prices are as follows: Eurosuper 95 at 11.37 kuna (1.5 euros) per liter, for Eurodizel at 11.29 kuna (1.49 euros) per liter.
Romania
The Romanian government reduced fuel customs duties by 50% in February to keep the price of diesel at pumping stations at 7 lei/litre. This measure did not achieve its goal, and the government is now under additional pressure to take further steps.
Sweden
The Swedish government announced a support plan this week – a reduction of 12 cents per liter will be applied to the tax applied to diesel and petrol from June until October.
