Germany abolishes controversial gas transit fee

The German Bundestag has voted to abolish the gas transit fee that Berlin introduced to cover the high costs of replacing Russian gas after Moscow reduced deliveries in 2022. The Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia had long argued for the transit fee to be abolished since it was pushing up gas prices in neighbor states particularly as they seek to cut their dependence on Russian gas. The fee should be abolished as of January 1, 2025.