Fuel excise freeze enough to placate Hi-Viz protesters?
The excise duty levied on petrol and diesel will not be raised to match inflation at the start of next year. The decision that will make a difference of around 1.5 eurocent per litre at the pumps was taken at Friday morning’s meeting of the Federal Cabinet.
The cost of fuel is one of the issues that the Hi-Viz protesters have been demonstrating against in recent weeks. The idea of not raising excise duty to match inflation at the start of next year came from the Prime Minister Charles Michel and was met with approval from the rest of the Federal Cabinet.
The decision means that the Exchequer will receive 90 million euro less in fuel excise duty than would otherwise have been the case. It has come about as an answer to the demonstration by Hi-Viz protesters. Hi-Viz protester have taken to the streets in recent weeks to vent their malcontent about rising fuel prices and falling purchasing power.
The Prime Minister has met with representatives of the High-Viz protesters and suggested to them that the level of excise duty could be frozen in an effort to meet some of their concerns. This is despite the automatic-linking of fuel duty levels to inflation featuring in the federal coalition agreement.
The measure will make a difference of 1.5 eurocents/litre at the pumps depending on price evolution on the international oil market.