The Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, has advanced this Wednesday that the Government “is studying and negotiating” to introduce greater progressivity in the fuel discount so that this measure is more effective and reaches those who “truly” need it and not the whole of the population. “When they are subsidies to the entire population, they are regressive measures. A large fortune that earns 200,000 euros a year does not need the same amount of subsidy as a small fortune, to put it ironically, that does not even reach 10,000 », he has defended.
Garzón, in statements to RNE collected by Europa Press, has stressed that the Government is not only open to extending the anti-crisis decree that contains this fuel subsidy beyond June 30, but also to modifying it.
“You have to be open to both possibilities,” he said.
In the case of the 20-cent discount on fuel, Garzón has indicated that, at the time, the most effective thing was for this measure to have a direct implementation, so that the population as a whole could benefit from it. “Now what we have to talk about is whether it is possible to specify it much better, directing it to the incomes that really need it or that are much more exposed because they are more vulnerable”» the minister pointed out.
Garzón explained that the Government “has been debating for some time” how to better specify this measure “so that it is much more effective and more progressive” and has pointed out that, if this is not included in the extension of the anti-crisis decree due to lack of time or technical reasons, “will have to enter through another formula”. “Here politics has to be above the legal. And if it is not done in this decree for technical reasons, the legal formula that best suits will have to be found », he stressed.
Regarding inflation, Garzón has indicated that its rebound is mainly due to energy prices, but he has indicated that the underlying inflation is also on the rise, which means, in his opinion, that “companies are passing on production costs, especially energy, in the final products”, such as food.
To this must be added, he said, the concern about the problem of “scarcity” of basic supplies such as wheat or some minerals necessary for the manufacture of fertilizers as a result of the war in Ukraine, but also about “the effects of change climate in India. “This problem is beginning to become very tense and we need to be very prepared to face it,” he stressed.
