Portugal: Government is profiting from rising fuel prices - socialists

The leader of the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) insisted on Monday that the Government is profiting from the rise in fuel prices and declined to comment on the party's position regarding the motion of no confidence tabled by the far-right Chega Party. «Since the Government took office on 24 April 2024, compared with the end of 2025, the Government has already made over €1.048 million from the increase in fuel taxes; therefore, the Government is literally making money from the rise in fuel costs that took effect from April 2024,» he said. José Luís Carneiro visited the first petrol station in Galiza, to «see with his own eyes the difference that exists, [in Valença], within a radius of just a few kilometres, between the economic realities of Portugal and Spain». «It is 30 to 40 cents cheaper than the cost of fuel in Portugal. If the proposals that the PS tabled in parliament are approved, this will mean a reduction of 17 cents per litre of fuel. We have already tabled them twice, but the ruling Democratic Alliance coalition (AD), the Liberals and Chega have rejected these proposals.» The PS leader, accompanied by the mayors of Valença, José Manuel Carpinteira, and Tui, Enrique Cabaleiro González, called on those parties «to reconsider this decision and approve the PS's proposals». «The proposals concern the temporary reduction of VAT from 23% to 13%; they concern the increase in energy capacity, particularly electricity, increasing capacity whilst applying the minimum VAT rate and, furthermore, introducing zero VAT on essential foodstuffs, as well as strengthening support for farmers and fishermen», he said. According to Carneiro, «the Portuguese economy is in a position to do so – indeed, it is well in a position [to bear the costs of the PS's measures] – because 'inflation is generating more revenue for the State; between January and July of this year, the government has already collected €1.07 billion more in revenue than it had forecast'.» «Why? Because inflation has been higher than the government had forecast; as it is higher than the forecast, the government is making more money from inflation than it had expected, and so who is paying for this increase, this rise in state revenue? It is the Portuguese people, particularly through the rising cost of living,» he said. Carneiro argued that the Portuguese people are «struggling greatly today, because the cost of living has risen sharply, and contrary to what the AD claimed, in 2022, thanks to the measures taken by the Socialist Party government, fuel prices in Portugal were on a par with those at the Spanish border». Regarding Tuesday's vote on the motion of no confidence tabled by Chega, Carneiro declined to go into further detail, saying that this evening he would be listening to the party's governing bodies. «Tomorrow [Tuesday], at the heart of democracy, in parliament, we will say what we have to say,» he stated. Faced with journalists' persistent questions as to whether he had already made a decision on the matter, he replied «The Socialist Party is a democratic party, not an autocratic one. For those who favour autocracy, there are other options; this is not the choice, this is not the door – it is another door,» he said.