Chancellor Friedrich Merz Rebukes Economics Minister Reiche Over Coalition Infighting

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has privately rebuked his own Economics Minister Katherina Reiche after she launched a public broadside against coalition partner SPD, with sources close to the Chancellor telling Reuters and the Deutsche Presse-Agentur that Merz was "alienated by the public exchange of blows" and had urged Reiche to exercise restraint. The dispute centers on competing proposals to relieve German consumers from high fuel prices, with Reiche and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil holding sharply divergent views on how — and whether — the government should intervene in energy markets. The row erupted on Friday even as fuel prices at German petrol stations fell for the third consecutive day, undercutting the urgency both ministers claimed to be addressing.

Reiche fires at SPD proposals, then faces Chancellery pushback Reiche, a CDU politician who has served as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy since May 2025, delivered her criticism through two channels on Friday: a guest commentary published in the Handelsblatt and a television appearance on Welt TV. Her remarks came shortly after Klingbeil convened an "Energy Price Crisis Summit" with representatives of business associations and trade unions — a meeting Reiche was reportedly disgruntled about because Klingbeil had not coordinated it with her ministry. „The coalition partner has stood out in recent weeks by submitting proposals that are expensive, weak in effect, and constitutionally questionable.” — Katherina Reiche via N-tv She added that such proposals "lead to confusion and do not help consumers." The Chancellery's response was swift: sources told Reuters and dpa that a clear agreement had been reached at a ministerial meeting on Thursday — that proposals would be developed by consensus — and that Reiche's public attack came after that agreement was in place. Reiche herself acknowledged in remarks reported by Die Welt that the disagreement was not only between her and Klingbeil but "within the entire federal government."

Klingbeil's excess profits tax meets Reiche's flat rejection The substantive divide between the two ministers reflects a broader ideological fault line within the black-red coalition. Klingbeil, who serves as both Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Finance, has proposed an excess profits tax on mineral oil companies to finance consumer relief, alongside a flexible price cap for petrol, diesel, and oil. Reiche issued what she called a "clear rejection" of both instruments, arguing the excess profits tax is constitutionally questionable and that weakening German refineries would send "the wrong signal at this time." Instead, she advocated for a temporary increase in the commuter allowance and a reduction in the diesel tax specifically for the freight and logistics industry. Merz and Reiche both oppose market interventions, pointing instead to a strengthening of the Federal Cartel Office — passed before Easter — as the appropriate tool to prevent abuse of market power by mineral oil companies. Klingbeil's SPD had also floated a mobility premium and a temporary reduction in the energy tax, though the Berliner Zeitung noted that a similar "tank discount" introduced during the 2022 Ukraine war energy crisis was largely absorbed by oil companies rather than passed on to consumers.

Germany's fuel market has been a recurring political flashpoint since the energy price surge that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The government at the time introduced a three-month reduction in the energy tax on fuels — a measure the Berliner Zeitung reports was largely factored in by mineral oil companies rather than passed on at the pump. The Federal Cartel Office has described the pricing behaviour of fuel companies as "conscious parallel behaviour" — simultaneous price increases without legally provable collusion — but has stated it cannot act against this under existing law. Austria introduced its own "fuel price brake" at the start of April 2026, combining a reduction in state mineral oil tax with a cut to oil company profit margins.

SPD lawmakers accuse Reiche of damaging coalition trust The political fallout from Reiche's remarks spread quickly through SPD ranks. Dirk Wiese, parliamentary group secretary of the SPD, told the Rheinische Post that Reiche's statements were "very strange" and "massively call into question the cooperation of this coalition." Sebastian Roloff, economic policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group, was sharper still, telling the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland that Reiche was acting as "a defender of the crisis profits of the mineral oil companies" and abandoning people with low and medium incomes as well as many medium-sized companies. „Viewing individual proposals critically is okay, but complete lack of ideas and action unfortunately does not do justice to her role as minister in any way.” — Sebastian Roloff via DIE WELT Merz, for his part, had told reporters on Thursday that citizens should not expect short-term decisions, and that the government would act only if prices continued to rise "significantly and permanently" — a position that sits uneasily with the urgency projected by both Klingbeil and Reiche in their public exchanges. A coalition committee meeting scheduled for Sunday, April 12, is expected to bring all proposals to the table, with Reiche confirming the SPD measures would be among those discussed. Whether the two ministers can present a unified position by then remains, according to sources in the Chancellor's circle, the central test of the coalition's ability to work "trustfully and calmly."