The information was provided to the Lusa agency by European sources, who explained that the request was made by the Portuguese executive to the European Commission last April, allowing it to accommodate measures such as the reduction of the Tax on Petroleum Products (ISP) equivalent to that which would result from a decrease of 10 percentage points (from 23% to 13%) in the VAT rate on fuel.

In addition to Portugal, Brussels approved a similar request made by Sweden, with “the [EU] Council having to adopt these decisions before the end of September”, according to the same sources.

According to the decision of the community executive on the Portuguese request, dated 22 August and to which Lusa had access today, “Portugal is authorised to apply reduced rates of excise duty to diesel and unleaded gasoline used as fuel, below the minimum levels of taxation” provided for in this directive.

The reasoning accompanying the decision reads that “the requested period of validity is until December 31, 2022, that is, within the maximum period allowed”.

“According to the Portuguese authorities, the objective of the measure is to mitigate the high retail prices of fuels associated with the consumption of fuel, resulting from the current geopolitical evolution and which directly affects both households and companies”, the explanatory text also states.