GERMANY PERSPECTIVE

The Bundestag just passed "new fuel price regulations"—The Local Germany reports measures aimed at bringing "greater transparency and predictability" after weeks of brutal increases. The keyword is Preisgrenze (price cap), and Tagesschau headlines a Social Democratic push to "entlast" (relieve) citizens with a windfall profits tax.

For a country obsessed with ordoliberalism and fiscal discipline, legislating fuel prices amounts to a confession of distress. Tagesschau notes that prices "sinken vor dem Start der Osterferien" (fall before Easter break)—but warns that with crude markets, rises could resume. The tone is that of methodical German pessimism.

The Gulf Times, from Qatar's vantage, reports that Chancellor Merz is considering extending coal plant operations amid the crisis. The irony is heavy: Germany, the self-proclaimed champion of the Energiewende (energy transition), finds itself burning more coal than ever. The war in Iran demolishes in weeks what years of climate policy had built.