At a press conference at Chega’s national headquarters in Lisbon, André Ventura was asked about the news in Jornal de Negócios that the Government is considering ending extraordinary fuel support.

“It is a huge mistake that goes against what the PSD itself has defended in parliament over the last few years,” reacted the Chega leader.

André Ventura stated that, according to the OECD, Portugal currently has “one of the highest tax pressures on fuels”, highlighting that the PS has always refused to make “any significant reduction” in these taxes and “the PSD has always been, like Chega, in favour of tax reductions in this area”.

“Therefore, I do not understand why the Government ends the extraordinary support for fuels without saying the other side. What is the other side? It is saying that it will reduce taxes on fuels either in terms of ISP or VAT”, he stressed.

Ventura warned that, if the Government ends the extraordinary support and does not reduce taxes on fuels, “this means that gas, diesel and gasoline will rise”, stating that he hopes that the government “will not go ahead with that”.

“Any measure like this that is included in the State Budget for 2025 will have our firm opposition in terms of the budget, as we have already made clear to the Government in the negotiations we had at the July meeting”, he said.

Ventura added that “any policy that means increasing fuel prices in Portugal is wrong, and it is not just wrong from a political point of view, it is wrong from an economic point of view, because the industry has to compete with European industry on equal terms”.