The president of Chega said this Friday, March 27, that the measures announced by the Government to deal with the increase in fuel prices due to the war in the Middle East “were more or less patches” and that “structural measures” are needed.
“Therefore, what the Government did today were more or less a few patches, they are not insignificant, they should not be devalued, they are some patches, but we are in a structural crisis that, in fact, the Prime Minister recognized, not through any fault of his own, but due to an international situation”said André Ventura on the sidelines of a visit to the 17th edition of Qualifica – Education, Training and Youth Fair.
For the leader of Chega, “in times of structural crisis there must be structural measures and not specific patches”.
Among these measures, André Ventura defended changes to the VAT regime. “There is an issue that needs to be addressed now, especially because other countries are doing it, Spain is doing it, Greece is doing it, Italy is doing it, which is the reduction of VAT on fuels”these.
And he continued: “[O primeiro-ministro] said that it was not necessary to think about VAT now. But it is necessary, because VAT is the tax that is causing enormous pressure on fuels, since, as it advances, being a tax on consumption, it impacts people’s pockets directly and has, at 23% in Portugal, an increase of almost a quarter of the value.”
André Ventura also defended that the Government of Luís Montenegro “does not want” to change VAT because, he said, “it is collecting money”.
“You’re making money off of this and you don’t want to give up that income, but it’s better to own up to it than to make little tinkerings that will have very little effect on people’s lives.”he stated.
But it is not only in fuels that Chega defends changes to the VAT regime, wanting zero VAT on food products: “We reached the highest value [no preço do cabaz alimentar] yesterday, it’s very worrying, a lot of people can’t put food on the table.”
André Ventura said he still hopes “manage to convince the Government to carry out this in the coming weeks” those two changes.
However, this morning, at the end of the Council of Ministers, Luís Montenegro stated that “No intervention in terms of VAT is on the table”neither in fuel nor in the food basket.
However, the Prime Minister did not rule out taking additional measures to support families, gradually, if the conflict in the Middle East persists.
Also at the end of the Council of Ministers, the Government announced measures to address the increase in fuel prices due to the war in the Middle East at a cost of around 150 million euros per month.
“In total, the measures we are taking mean around R$150 million per month of support in the fuel area. The financial balance that has guided our policy gives us better conditions to also be able to face adversities”he defended.
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