The president of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, advanced it a day before: “We are going to sit down and we are not going to get up until we reach an agreement.” And at 2 in the morning the deal arrived, after 12 hours of meeting. Government and carriers have closed a pact to find a solution to rise in fuel prices with a package of measures €1 billion that include discounts for fuel, direct aid and an extension of the expiration period of ICO credits, as well as a new line of credits.
“We have reached an understanding that it must be the full stop to the strike that part of the sector has been leading in recent days”announced the Minister of Transport, Rachel Sanchez. The first response was Fenadismer, one of the employers’ associations that joined the strike in the last week. “No, there is no reason to maintain the stoppages & rdquor ;, its president has assured, Julius Villaescusa.
The Executive will reward 20 euro cents per liter of fuel (diesel, gasoline, gas and ‘adblue’) to the transport of goods and passengers until June 30 “extendable according to the evolution of the markets”. Of this figure, the State will contribute 15 cents per liter and the oil companies “a minimum” of 5 cents per liter, as announced by Sánchez. This will assume, for example, that a diesel truck can save 700 euros per month.
The president of Fenadismer, an association that supported the strike, says that “there is no reason to continue the stoppages”
It will also launch direct aid amounting to 450 million euros for freight and passenger transport companies depending on the type of vehicle: 1,250 euros per truck, 950 euros per bus, 500 euros per van and 300 euros per light vehicle (taxi, VTC and ambulances). It will extend the expiration period of the ICO credits from 8 to 10 years, will extend the grace period by 6 months and will create a new line of ICO credits with a twelve-month grace period. And it will double the budget for aid for abandoning the carrier profession from 10 to 20 million euros in the 2022 budgets.
These measures will be approved next Tuesday in a royal decree law in the Council of Ministers. In addition, before July 31, the Executive undertakes to present to the National Committee for Road Transport (CNTC) a bill text to apply the principles of the Food Chain Law to the sector.
marathon day
The day began at 11:30 a.m. and the representatives of the merchandise department and the passenger department of the National Committee for Road Transport (CNTC), which represents 85% of the sector, with the Minister of Transport, Rachel Sanchezas well as with the First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Nadia Calvinoand the Minister of Finance, Maria Jesus Montero. But at the end of the day, only the Secretary of Transportation, Maria Jose Ralloand the General Director of Land Transport, James Moreno, as criticized by the president of the Association of Self-Employed Workers (ATA), lorenzo loveon Twitter at 11 p.m., although an hour later the Minister of Transport made an appearance again at the meeting.
A priori, the objective did not seem complicated at the beginning of the day. Last Monday, the Government undertook to subsidize with 500 million euros from the General State Budget part of the fuel for the sector, as well as to carry out the monthly return of professional fuel from the month of April, instead of quarterly as before, and publishing the prices weekly on the ministry’s website. This Thursday’s meeting, which was initially scheduled to be held on Friday but had to be brought forward due to the insistence of the carriers, aimed to specify a discount figure for professional diesel and the deadlines. However, in the end it has festered because the positions were very distant, according to sources at the meeting.
Demonstration on Friday
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Of whom there was no trace throughout the day was the Platform for the Defense of Transport –without representation on the Committee– summoner of the strikes that also foresee holding a great demonstration this Friday in Madrid. The president of the platform, Manuel Hernandezinsisted throughout the day that strikes will persist with or without agreement with the Government. “Until I sit down with the minister, the strike is not called off,” he assured this Thursday Hernandezin statements to the EFE agency.
“Now that the government has done its part, I hope the industry be responsible. The demands of the Committee and the Platform have been met. There are no reasons not to resume activity and therefore violent acts. I ask that carrier who has taken to the streets these days to demonstrate for the situation he is in, that carrier who is having difficulty making ends meet, please let the agreement be read,” Sanchez said.