The Czech government agreed to cap fuel retailers' margins and lower the excise tax to limit fuel price rises, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Thursday, while Romania's ruling coalition is set to cut excise duties on diesel ?on Friday
Babis told a news conference that there ?was "chaos" resulting from a lack of coordination among countries in Central Europe, which have been adopting ?their own measures in response to the energy crisis.
He said his government will start price controls from April ?8 by capping the margin on diesel and gasoline at 2.50 crowns ($0.12) and lowering the excise tax on diesel - currently at 9.95 crowns per litre - by 2.35 crowns.
A maximum price will be set daily under the system, he said.
"We ?think this is a measure that should fundamentally help everyone, of course citizens, companies and the economy," ?Babis said.
Romania's government said in a statement it will cut excise tax on diesel by 0.30 lei ($0.0679) per litre ?through an ?emergency decree most likely on Friday.
The country, which has the EU's highest budget deficit, has already capped fuel price markups and limited exports. It is also partially offsetting diesel prices for farmers and transportation companies.
In the Czech Republic, the average petrol price has risen about 8 crowns per litre to 41.60 crowns since ?the U.S.-Israeli air strikes on ?Iran on February 28. ?Diesel is up around 15 crowns at 48.33 crowns per litre, CTK news agency reported, citing data from fleet service provider CCS.
Prague has already released 100,000 ?tons of crude from state reserves for the country's sole refiner, Orlen Unipetrol, ?owned by ?Polish group Orlen.
Orlen and Hungary's MOL are large fuel retailers in the country with refinery systems.
Besides pressure from global markets, where oil has vaulted past $100 a barrel, Central Europe is also dealing with a suspension of ?Russian oil ?supplies to Slovakia and Hungary due to an outage on ?the Druzhba pipeline in Ukraine, which Kyiv said was caused by a Russian strike on pipeline equipment.
(Reuters, April 2, 2026)
