The government is reported to have said “there is no reason to frighten people” – but the truth of the new ‘green tax’ on petrol and other measures envisaged in the State Budget for 2015 is that fuel prices will increase next year by as much as €346.3 million.
Due to “heavy taxation”, Galp president Ferreira de Oliveira revealed the bottom-line figure, saying that the price of diesel would rise by five cents a litre, while petrol would be going up by 6.5 cents.
The increases have no bearing on workers’ wages – and this led to protests yesterday outside the fuel giant’s premises in Lisbon.
Union boss Armando Faria told Lusa: “We have to show that the firm continues to make profits, the administrators continue with obscene salaries, but workers have gone four years without any kind of pay increase.
“The situation we are experiencing within the Galp Energia group is very serious,” he added, explaining that Galp was now putting “hundreds of jobs at risk” by transferring services, including refineries, to outsourcing.
