BERLIN, April 13 (Reuters) – Germany’s coalition government on Monday announced a package of measures nL6N40W0EC to cut fuel costs, allow a tax-free worker bonus, set a timeline for overhauling the statutory health insurance system and push changes to EU car emissions rules.<\/p>\n
\n The following are key points from the coalition paper:<\/p>\n
FUEL PRICE RELIEF<\/p>\n
\n – Cut Germany’s energy tax on diesel and petrol by about 0.17 euros per litre for two months,\u00a0 relief worth around 1.6 billion euros ($1.87 billion). Cost to be offset by competition- or tax-based measures targeting oil companies.<\/p>\n
\n – Tougher antitrust: expand powers of Germany’s federal Bundeskartellamt competition watchdog to collect data across the motor-fuel\u00a0supply chain and pursue remedies, including clawing back excess profits after sector probes, to ensure wholesale price drops are passed on to consumers.<\/p>\n
\n – Longer term: expand domestic energy supply, including by tapping selected German gas fields, accelerating renewables and strengthening cross-border power grid links.<\/p>\n
WORKER RELIEF<\/p>\n
\n – 2026: Employers may pay a one-off, tax- and social-contribution-free bonus of 1,000 euros. Lost tax revenue to be offset by a tobacco tax hike this year.<\/p>\n
\n – 2027: Major overhaul of income tax to permanently reduce the burden on lower- and middle-income households.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
STATUTORY HEALTH INSURANCE (GKV)<\/p>\n
\n Germany’s statutory health insurance system, covering most residents and backed by payroll contributions from employers and employees, faces a funding gap https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/healthcare-pharmaceuticals\/german-special-commission-health-insurance-proposes-measures-cap-costs-2026-03-30\/ that could reach 40 billion euros in 2030.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n – Goal: curb spending growth, align outlay with revenue and stabilise contribution rates, with all stakeholders required to contribute.<\/p>\n
\n – Cabinet to approve a draft law on April 29, with passage targeted before the summer parliamentary recess.<\/p>\n
AUTO INDUSTRY – EU RULES AND GERMAN POSITION<\/p>\n
\n The European Commission https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/climate-energy\/factbox-whats-european-commissions-proposals-reverse-2035-combustion-engine-ban-2025-12-16\/ has opened a new lawmaking process. Germany is responding to the Commission’s draft:<\/p>\n
\n – Germany supports a “technology-neutral” approach, which would still allow new combustion-engine cars to be registered after 2035 if they meet EU rules.<\/p>\n
\n – Germany will seek to pause the tougher 2027 formula for plug-in hybrids (“Utility Factor”). It will push for vehicles that run exclusively on renewable fuels, including advanced biofuels, to be credited as zero-emission without delay.<\/p>\n
\n – Germany rejects the Commission’s proposed bonus compliance credits for small https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/climate-energy\/factbox-whats-european-commissions-proposals-reverse-2035-combustion-engine-ban-2025-12-16\/ electric vehicles and any size-based preferential treatment.<\/p>\n
\n – “Banking and borrowing”: Germany backs letting carmakers carry over excess CO2 reductions or bring some forward in the 2025-2029 and 2030-2034 periods, with three-year compliance periods for the 2030 and 2035 targets to allow flexible compliance and avoid penalties.<\/p>\n
\n ($1 = 0.8550 euros)<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, Marianda Murray, Maria Martinez and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BERLIN, April 13 (Reuters) – Germany’s coalition government on Monday announced a package of measures nL6N40W0EC to cut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5,548],"class_list":{"0":"post-4191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-germany","9":"tag-markets"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}