GERMANY PERSPECTIVE

Berlin discovers that the oil shock hits where it hurts most: in the fabric of SMEs that power the real economy. Tagesschau features on-the-ground reporting with Torsten Markert, head of an 80-bus company in Bingen (Rhein-Main region). His testimony is raw: 'Es ist gravierend. Sie sehen: Die Busse stehen hier still.' The buses are idle, routes cut to bare contractual minimums. The problem is structural: Markert signed multi-year contracts at prices calculated before the war. Diesel has risen from 1.75 euros per liter to 2.30 euros—and he is locked in for four years of contracts. The government measure limiting price increases at the pump to one adjustment per day (Austrian model) 'brings us nothing whatsoever,' he says. The BDO (German Federation of Transport Operators) is demanding structural measures beyond short-term palliatives. At the Bus2Bus fair in Berlin, the sector discusses electrification, autonomous driving, and AI—but the BDO president notes the absence of a 'clear national strategy' for the Mittelstand (businesses under 250 employees). Germany faces the paradox of its Zeitenwende energy transition: it managed to exit Russian gas, but did not anticipate a Hormuz closure. Dependence has not disappeared—it has changed address.