Marie Schneberger has always been thrifty about gasoline. The high price of filling up made it prohibitively expensive for Ms. Schneberger, a middle-income airline employee, to own anything bigger than a Fiat subcompact
Marie Schneberger has always been thrifty about gasoline. The high price of filling up made it prohibitively expensive for Ms. Schneberger, a middle-income airline employee, to own anything bigger than a Fiat subcompact.
Gas prices that make drivers queasy at the pump are a relatively new occurrence in the United States, but persistently high prices forced Europeans to curtail their fuel consumption long ago. (In many countries, government taxes account for more than half the price.)
Highways are filled with fuel-efficient Smart cars and Minis, most cities have highly developed public transportation systems, and green-minded policies have spawned everything from special bicycle lanes to downtown congestion charges. Now the current surge in the price of oil has many Europeans asking how much leaner they can become.
Less audible, but no less angry, are French nurses fretting about the cost of making home visits in their cars, Italian travel agents worried about fueling tour buses, and families from Madrid to Moscow who are leaving their cars at home or reducing spending in other areas.
European governments, already under pressure from slowing economic growth and falling tax revenue, are increasingly concerned the anger could grow. On Tuesday, faced with furious truckers, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France called for the European Union to cap fuel taxes — a proposal immediately rejected by other countries that count on the income to bolster their budgets.
The problem in Europe is that the upsurge has come faster and harder than in previous cycles. For instance, the cost of a liter of unleaded gasoline surged 17 percent in the last 12 months in Britain, 15 percent in Austria and 8 percent in France.
