© Archyde.com/EVA MANEZ
Truckers organize a slow march during the strike to improve working conditions in Valencia
MADRID, March 21 (Archyde.com) – The Spanish government agreed on Monday to pay 500 million euros ($551.35 million) in direct aid to the transport sector, hoping to end a strike by some truckers over higher of fuel costs, but strike organizers said it will continue.
“We are going to apply a bonus in the price of professional diesel, along with other historical measures, to relieve carriers,” said the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, following meeting with the National Committee for Road Transport.
The minister explained that the measure is in line with similar ones adopted in France, Portugal and Italy and that it will come into force from April 1. The Government will not reduce VAT —value added tax— on fuels.
Although the strike only affects a minority of drivers, it has caused massive traffic jams across Spain, prompting some factories to stop production as they are unable to ensure deliveries are received on time.
The organizer of the strike, an association of truckers and small truck owners known as the Platform in Defense of the Transport Sector, was not present at the meeting and said the government’s announcement was insufficient.
Faced with record diesel prices, drivers began a strike last Monday to demand lower taxes and relaxation of regulations, and some protests turned violent.
“Until the real problems of the small truckers are negotiated, (the strike) will not be suspended,” the president of the Platform, Manuel Hernández, told Archyde.com, adding that his main claim is to prevent drivers from having losses when the transport costs exceed revenue.
Hernández said that the government’s proposals were “band-aids” that do not address what, according to him, is a deeper wound.
Asked regarding the continuation of the strike on Tuesday, the Spanish Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, declared at a press conference: “These are positive measures for the road transport sector. Those who do not join are not defending the interests of this sector”.
The Government’s plan follows a consultation by the European Commission on a draft proposal for a temporary framework for state aid for the crisis, in order to support the EU economy in the context of rising global inflation, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This support might come in any form, including guarantees, subsidized loans and limited grants to partially compensate companies, particularly energy-intensive users, for rising energy prices, the EU said in early March. .
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(Reporting by Emma Pinedo, Jesús Aguado, Belén Carreño and Joan Faus; writing by Nathan Allen and Joan Faus; editing by Aurora Ellis and Jonathan Oatis, translated by Tomás Cobos)