“The final price paid by consumers for heating oil will be set on 15 October, at the start of the season, at well below €1.75 a litre. Our intention is, in a form to be specified tomorrow, both to continue the subsidy for petrol and road diesel and to provide more substantial support for heating oil. In addition to our intervention at the pump and the increase in the heating allowance for vulnerable households, I have the impression there will be a third measure from the refineries, which are pursuing their own policy.”
That was the message from Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis in an interview on OPEN TV today. Asked about discussions under way at European level on taxing refinery windfall profits, he said: “The EU has not yet reached a decision. But we are not waiting for the EU. The refineries had already contributed in July, when the EU and the opposition were on holiday, and continued to do so in August and September, with a total contribution of more than €100 million.”
He also recalled that during the energy crisis the government taxed windfall profits both at electricity companies and — twice — at refineries. “Citizens,” he said, “care about the end result, not where the discount comes from. The government is not overlooking any factor and will regularly update its policy.”
The deputy prime minister stressed that the crisis in the fuel market is affecting not only Greece but every country in the world. “We are doing all we can to tackle it in an international environment made even more challenging by turbulence in the bond market centred on France. All this shows that we must clearly be sensitive to people’s concerns, but also very serious and disciplined. No government can make problems disappear with a magic eraser.”
Referring to Greece’s proposals ahead of the upcoming European Council on ways to support citizens, he said: “Our official position, as stated by the prime minister, is that we are asking for greater flexibility. We will make full use of all the room available and take advantage of any existing flexibility, without risking yellow or red cards for breaching the fiscal rules. Not to be good boys, but because if you overstep the limits, you run into trouble not only with the EU — which is the least of it — but also with the markets and situations like those we experienced in the previous decade. If we did not have a serious government but populists, we would not even be discussing the measures we are considering now. We have already experienced the ‘progress’ under Mr Tsipras.”