GERMANY PERSPECTIVE

The Bundestag just passed 'new fuel price rules' — The Local Germany reports legislation aimed at bringing 'more transparency and predictability' after weeks of brutal price hikes. The keyword is Preisgrenze (price cap), and Tagesschau reports the SPD wants to 'entlasten' (relieve) citizens with a windfall profits tax.

For a country obsessed with ordoliberalism and fiscal discipline, legislating fuel prices is an admission of distress. Tagesschau notes prices are 'sinken vor dem Start der Osterferien' (dropping before Easter holidays) — but warns that crude oil markets could push them back up. The tone is classic German methodical pessimism.

The Gulf Times, reporting from Qatar, says Chancellor Merz is considering extending coal-fired power plants amid the crisis. The irony is heavy: Germany, self-proclaimed champion of the Energiewende (energy transition), finds itself burning more coal than ever. The Iran war has destroyed in weeks what years of climate policy had built.