EU fuel inflation slows but remains high, with stark country contrasts

EU fuel inflation slows but remains high, with stark country contrasts
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Fuel and lubricant prices for personal transport in the EU rose 13.7% in June 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier.

The annual increase followed rises of 20.8% in April 2026 and 20.7% in May 2026, compared with April and May 2025, Eurostat reported on Wednesday.

Prices were higher year-on-year in every EU country in June, though the pace of increase was slower than in May, when four countries recorded annual inflation above 30% for this category.

The largest year-on-year increases in June were in Bulgaria (26.0%), Lithuania (23.5%), Romania (23.1%), Finland (22.0%) and Luxembourg (20.7%).

Hungary (2.3%) and Poland (5.8%) recorded the smallest annual rises, while the remaining countries ranged from 7.9% in Spain to 18.6% in Cyprus.

Price changes for fuel and lubricants, April-june 2026 (%, annual rate of change). Bar chart. Link to full dataset below.

Diesel and petrol fell month-on-month in June

Diesel prices fell 6.4% across the EU in June compared with May, while petrol prices dropped 4.2% over the same period, according to Eurostat.

Diesel prices decreased in every EU country between May and June, with the biggest falls in Czechia (-11.3%), Poland (-9.7%) and Bulgaria (-9.4%), while the smallest decreases were in Hungary (-0.6%), Italy (-1.4%) and Slovenia (-1.6%).

For petrol, Cyprus (+0.7%) and Italy (+0.5%) were the only countries to register price increases month-on-month, while the largest declines were in Sweden (-7.8%), Belgium (-7.0%) and Poland (-6.6%).


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