Morning Briefing Podcast: The best law Katherina Reiche has presented so far

Guten Morgen, liebe Leserinnen und Leser. In her role as Germany’s Economy Minister, Katherina Reiche has been receiving mixed reviews. While she is seen as a strong advocate for market economy principles, critics argue that she struggles to draft substantive legislation. Recently, her proposed heating law has been criticized as the worst since its inception by the Standards Control Council. Similarly, laws aimed at restructuring renewable energy sources have been torn apart even by CDU party leaders.

However, it appears Reiche may have scored a significant victory. According to my colleague Julian Olk, she has drafted legislation for a fuel price cap. Unlike some proposals, this one does not automatically impose a price cap, as demanded by the SPD party. Instead, it creates the legal foundation necessary for the government to intervene.

The intervention can only occur if fuel and diesel prices rise by more than five percentage points above the average rate of increase in the rest of the EU for three consecutive weeks. Even then, the cap would only be enforced for three months. One might have been surprised if the legislation had also specified conditions such as three days of rain followed by sunshine between 4:30 and 4:50 PM.