“We did not cause any increase in the final consumer price. We are correcting a discount that had to be corrected, without impacting the final consumer price,” stated the Prime Minister in response to the leader of Chega during the biweekly debate in the Assembly of the Republic.
Luís Montenegro noted that the government decided to take advantage of a very significant drop in gasoline and diesel prices by not reflecting this in the final price, in order to recover a discount that was in effect.
The Prime Minister stated that gasoline and diesel are now about 20 cents cheaper per liter than they were on March 1, 2022.
In his speech, the president of Chega mentioned that the government claimed that the increase in ISP revenue forecasted in the State Budget for 2026 was due to “an estimate that the Portuguese will have more money and, therefore, will spend more fuel in cars.”
“In the week when accounts pointed to a rare drop in gasoline prices, the government took the first step to end the discount on ISP,” with the “partial reversal of measures adopted three years ago,” criticized André Ventura.
The Chega MP noted that during the discussion of the State Budget, he warned that the government was “deceiving” the Portuguese.
“We said at the time that they were deceiving us and that it was not true because they were going to end the discount that allowed people to pay less for fuel. Today we know the truth, the truth is that the government wanted, accepted, and tolerated the increase in pressure on fuel,” he argued, anticipating that “the Portuguese will pay more” to fill their tanks.
In the biweekly debate, Ventura also accused the government of wanting to increase tuition fees for higher education students, arguing that “there is reason for general discontent, and the general discontent is the harm they are doing to young people.”
“An increase in tuition fees is wrong in the country where we are and sends the wrong signal to our young people, it gives the wrong signal that we don’t want them here, that we want them abroad, that we don’t want to value them. But that’s what you want, to penalize young people even more. We want to do the opposite, we want a government for the young, to ensure that young people stay in Portugal,” he maintained.
At this point, the Prime Minister retorted that “not understanding that updating tuition fees by 13 euros per year, to strengthen social support for those who need it most, is a measure of justice, is to understand nothing.”
Through an ordinance published in the Diário da República on November 28, the PSD/CDS-PP government reduced the existing discount on the ISP applicable to unleaded gasoline and road diesel, partially reversing the drop in fuel prices.
According to this ordinance, which took effect on December 1, the ISP rate applicable, on the mainland, to gasoline with a lead content of 0.013 grams per liter or less increased from 481.26 euros to 497.52 euros per 1,000 liters, while the ISP rate applicable to diesel increased from 337.21 euros to 361.60 euros per 1,000 liters.
According to estimates by the Automóvel Club de Portugal (ACP), these amounts represent an effective tax increase per liter of about 1.6 cents for gasoline and more than two cents for diesel. (PD)
