2023-09-28 02:03:58
The transporters’ request to the Government to recover the original bonus of 20 cents per liter for fuel today has difficult prospects of succeeding. The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma) does not consider it impossible, but they warn that it seems complicated.
The Spanish Confederation of Freight Transporters (CETM), the majority in the sector, has asked Mitma to act in the face of the “disproportionate” rise in fuel prices and extend the fuel bonus. Fuel prices have increased for ten weeks and their price is already above even the values prior to the invasion of Ukraine. To alleviate the increase in prices that occurred after the outbreak of the war, the Government approved the aid of 20 cents. In June, it extended the bonus, but reduced its amount. The discount applied per hour is ten cents per liter. But starting Sunday, October 1, it will be 5, which will disappear from January 1.
Despite the difficult situation in fuel prices, Mitma argues that measures have already been taken so that transporters can protect their accounts from increases in fuel prices and that, in addition, there are legal limitations that also make it difficult
Arguments
From Mitma they state that throughout 2022 and 2023 “work has been done to approve and consolidate a series of mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing the review of the price of transport based on the variation in the price of fuel from its contracting to its effective implementation. “That it covers the individual costs incurred by the transporter”, in reference to the decree approved in August 2022 so that transporters do not work at a loss emulating the principles of the food chain law.
According to the ministry, these structural measures “have allowed increases in fuel prices to be reflected in transport prices, as shown by the statistics available to Mitma.” The average price per kilometer recorded in the second quarter of 2023 is 3.7% higher than the same quarter of 2022, according to these data.
The ministry also explains that «the fuel price bonuses, approved exceptionally in a context of energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, have allowed us to have a sufficient period throughout 2022 and 2023 to “roll in” the mechanism. intended to reinforce that the increase in fuel prices is reflected in the transportation prices agreed between the parties. “Mission that they have fulfilled effectively,” the sources add.
Another point that, they say, must be taken into account is that this aid has been able to be granted thanks to the existence of the European Temporary Framework for Ukraine (related to the so-called “State Aid”), which ends next December, and until now There is no known initiative from the European Commission to extend it further than that date. “Therefore, starting in January, the usual European mechanisms in this matter, much more restrictive than the Current Temporary Framework, would have to be taken into account.”
Government in office
Finally, Transport also explains that it must be taken into account that the Government is in office, which limits its management to the ordinary dispatch of public affairs. In this regard, they add that, with structural measures already in place, it is very difficult to justify the urgency of applying the 20 cent bonus again.
The transporters defend that Mitma promised to review the aid if the situation worsened. CETM assures that there is a “strong concern among transport companies and self-employed workers” because not only have fuel prices risen disproportionately, so have other costs such as salaries, insurance, tires, vehicles, etc. and all this is leading them to live “an unsustainable situation.”
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