Austria’s lower house of parliament approved draft legislation yesterday to pave the way for measures to counter rising petrol prices sparked by the war in the Gulf.
Israeli and US military strikes on Iran and Iran’s subsequent threat to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil and gas deliveries pass, have driven up oil prices and sent Western governments scrambling to cushion the blow to consumers.
Austria’s three-party ruling coalition plans to return to drivers the additional revenue accrued from higher petrol prices in the form of a cut in tax on petrol and diesel. It also wants to cap profit margins for refiners and petrol retailers.
The measures should initially reduce fuel costs by about 10 euro cents (12 cents) a litre in total from next month, the government said.
The draft legislation approval was made possible by the opposition Greens party voting in favour to give the government the two-thirds majority it needed.
“This government must take full responsibility for both the success and the failure of its policies,” Greens leader Leonore Gewessler told a Press conference shortly before her party joined those voting in favour of the legislation.
However, Gewessler also said she believed that the measures would be ineffective, saying fuel retailers would simply raise their prices further, and urged the government to improve the plans.
“We Greens will not let ourselves be used as an excuse for this government failing to get its act together and bring prices down,” she said, explaining her party’s vote.
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