Luxembourg, the country that has “acted the least” for gasoline
The UK is one of the European countries that has done the least to support drivers with pump prices soaring since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to a new analysis of data from
JRC Europe
– leading British drivers to pay up to 20 pence more per liter of petrol than drivers in France,” the statement from the Royal Automobile Club begins on Monday.
The study published by the private side of the RCA – as opposed to the more similar ACL support club – shows that only Luxembourg did worse than the UK with a reduction of 4.52 pence (0.054 euro on average since March) for petrol, while only Croatia does less well for diesel with 4.5 pence against 5p (0.06 euro) for London.
Greece and Austria still cheaper
“This analysis lays bare an uncomfortable truth for the UK government – that compared to other European countries it has done about the least to support drivers during the current period of record fuel prices” , carries the spokesman of the RCA, Simon Williams. “The result is that the UK is one of the most expensive places to fill up. It ranks above other countries that have historically been charged more fuel than the UK detailed, including France and the Netherlands.”
“Perhaps even more frustratingly, countries that haven’t cut fuel taxes at all since March – including Greece and Austria – are still cheaper than the UK,” he continues. “At the opposite end of the spectrum, other countries have done a lot, Portugal, applying tariffs seven times since March, and France and Spain, both offering deep fuel discounts at checkout. .”
But the RCA recognizes this from the second paragraph: Only 13 Member States have made a gesture towards their consumers – on the contrary 14 have not done so – and the starting prices are far from being identical everywhere in Europe. The United Kingdom and Luxembourg are therefore, as we would say in the world of football, “in the soft underbelly of the ranking”… but neither the worst nor the best.
A drop of seven weeks not passed on
The press release underscores this by pointing out that “although UK pump prices have finally started to fall in recent days – after significant pressure from the RAC on the detailed to determine that wholesale fuel prices have fallen for seven consecutive weeks – the average price of a liter of petrol or diesel is well above the European averages, by 1.87 euros and 1.93 euros. The UK is currently the second most expensive country when it comes to the average cost of a liter of petrol (2.22 euros) – behind Finland (2.27 euros) with Denmark also at 186 pence ( 2.22 euros) – and the second most expensive for diesel at 2.33 euros per litre, with only Sweden charging more (2.51 euros)”*.
While the RCA castigated the British government’s insufficient aid to the consumer, in Luxembourg, on the too high and too expensive in view of climate issues.
[* Les chiffres originaux du communiqué étaient en livres sterling et nous les avons convertis au taux du jour. Ndlr.]