Minister to debate rising fuel prices with firms
Peoples Party (ÖVP) Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner will meet with mineral oil industry bosses and petrol station chiefs to discuss soaring fuel prices.More and more Austrian drivers are fuming as petrol stations upped prices shortly before the Easter and the Whitsun weekend holiday breaks.A vast majority of 90 per cent of Austrians even think firms operating in the mineral oil industry are engaged in price fixing, according to research by public opinion agency OGM.Now the economy minister announced that Mitterlehner will gather with representatives of oil companies operating in Austria. Petrol station managers will also join tomorrows (Thurs) summit, it has been announced.Greens chief Eva Glawischnig appealed to the government coalition of Social Democrats (SPÖ) and ÖVP a few days ago to end support for trade with fossil energy in order to make a full switch to renewable sources.Glawischnig said only such a drastic move could be the only consequence of the leaking oil disaster at the Gulf of Mexico.”It is not acceptable to spend seven billion Euros on road projects while spending much less on schools,” she said.