Berlin The trigger is called Christian Lindner (FDP). In early summer 2022, with the start of the tank discount, the finance minister asked for the competition guardians of the Federal Cartel Office. It is now the task of the authority that the tax cut on fuel would be passed on from the gas stations to the customers, he tweeted.
At the time, the party leader could hardly have guessed what he was triggering. First government colleague Robert Habeck (Greens) presented a draft law that would be no less than a paradigm shift in competition policy. Then the FDP ministries themselves blocked it. A letter drives the posse on. And now an ex-FDP Economics Minister is backing Habeck.
How did all this come about? The problem with the tank discount: The cartel office has no authority to influence the gas stations. The competition authorities can only intervene if they identify illegal behavior, usually it is about price fixing.
A few corporations dominate the fuel market and thus the prices, which can harm consumers. However, illegal price fixing could never be proven. The cartel office is powerless. Later investigations showed that the tank discount worked quite well. But anti-competitive power can be found in other markets as well.
It was already indicated in the coalition agreement that something was to be changed. Habeck prioritized this project after Lindner’s initiative. In September, his ministry presented a draft law on competition law.
And he had it all: Habeck wants the cartel office to be able to examine any economic sector, regardless of suspicion, and to intervene massively. It would not have to identify any illegal structures, just those that are harmful to competition.
The head of the authorities, Andreas Mundt, a member of the FDP, would gain considerable power as a result of the new law.
(Photo: Imago Images)
The authority could then prescribe the disclosure of data, specifications for the contract design of companies and, as a last resort, even the break-up of corporations.
FDP ministries blocked law for two months
At the beginning of December, Habeck’s people made the first attempt and wanted to put the law on the federal cabinet’s agenda. But the FDP-led departments of finance and justice vetoed it.
They still do that today, the Handelsblatt learned from government circles. In January, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) exacerbated the conflict when he sent Habeck officials a long list of fundamental questions about the law.
>> Read here: Tank discount was “predominantly” passed on – no signs of collusion
There are different signals as to what exactly the liberal houses want. In principle, they had previously agreed to a strengthening of the Cartel Office. Political and legal reservations are now being heard about the specific design, up to and including the ultimate demand by some to postpone the paradigm shift until the next amendment to the law. This is also planned for the current legislative period. However, time is running out, a postponement could lead to the failure of Habeck’s project.
To date, the competition authorities have had little influence on competition between petrol station operators.
(Photo: imago/Gerhard Leber)
Recently, however, signals of progress can be heard from government circles. The negotiations were constructive, one is already on detailed questions. This should at least raise the hurdles when the cartel office can intervene.
Habeck said on Wednesday in the Bundestag that an agreement would be reached “soon”. Most of those involved assume that the law will go into the cabinet in March. But nobody wants to talk about a preliminary decision. The three ministries did not want to comment on request.
Group fears markets designed by the state
But now new resistance is forming, this time from the FDP faction. Economic politicians Reinhard Houben and Gerald Ullrich wrote to Habeck this week. The spokesman for economic policy and the MP responsible for competition policy warn against a “considerable increase in the power of the Federal Cartel Office”.
>> Read here: The traffic light cannot agree on these central projects
“An authority should not […] receive the competencies to unbundle markets or to be able to design markets with comprehensive upstream measures,” says the letter, which is available to the Handelsblatt.
It is also the wrong signal to “restrict the freedom of action of companies in these difficult times through new state intervention rights”. Houben and Ullrich advocate postponing the paradigm shift in competition policy.
Brüderle: “Wish Habeck good luck”
But a prominent FDP member stands by Habeck’s side. It is Rainer Brüderle, himself Federal Minister of Economics from 2009 to 2011. “I was very pleased that Mr. Habeck is tackling exactly those things in antitrust law that I had already campaigned for,” Brüderle told the Handelsblatt.
“I wish him the best of luck in succeeding with his completely justified reform project,” said the now 77-year-old, who during his tenure with a comparable proposal – some say more, others less – failed at the Union-led Chancellery.
“Anyone who stands behind the social market economy also needs an effective regulatory framework for competition – not only in Sunday speeches, but in everyday practice,” says the former FDP Minister of Economic Affairs.
(Photo: Imago Images)
The fear that the state will design markets is counterbalanced by congratulations, united in one and the same party. How can that be? The competition law debate is an example of the two levels of economic freedom.
Fundamental question about market economy and regulatory policy
Liberals like Houben and Ullrich argue with civil liberties. They believe that even a bad market works even better than one in which the state intervenes. Supply and demand clarified better how goods are distributed than a state that is not omniscient about economic events.
other liberals like Brüderle agree, but with clear reservations. As much competition as possible creates the best markets, so the thinking. And if competition is particularly restricted, the state has to change the framework.
“Of course, the planned measures represent a strong encroachment on freedom,” said Brüderle. But with strong market positions, you need “sharp competition law so as not to trigger even greater restrictions on freedom”.
Another well-known FDP member sees it that way: Cartel Office head Andreas Mundt. He recently wrote in the “New Journal for Antitrust Law”, “the new powers offer the opportunity […] to make competition possible again in the first place”. Which basic conviction prevails in the FDP should become apparent in the near future.
More: Elga Bartsch becomes Habeck’s chief economist – the first woman in this position