VIENNA, April 30 (Reuters) – Talks among Austria’s three ruling parties on extending a mechanism cushioning the blow to consumers of higher petrol prices have failed just a month after it was introduced, media including news agency APA reported on Thursday.
The mechanism, a combination of returning a higher value-added tax take to consumers in the form of lower petrol tax and of trimming retailers’ margins, requires the government to set the size of those two elements. The level is currently set at 5 euro cents (6 cents) per litre each and expires on Friday.
($1 = 0.8549 euros)
(Reporting by Francois Murphy. Editing by Mark Potter)