Truck drivers continue to protest in Spain, reject inadequate state 20 cents offer

Spanish truck drivers keep their strike against high fuel prices going. They had earlier rejected the government’s offer to subsidize up to 20 cents per liter of fuel, of which Madrid would reportedly contribute 15 cents and the oil companies a minimum of five cents.

They are maintaining strike action at key ports and industrial facilities across Spain, shutting factories that cannot get parts and limiting supplies in supermarkets.

Social-democratic Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez proposed a €16 billion package in state-backed loans. He detailed the plan at a business forum of IBEX-35-listed corporations after urgent demands from Spanish financial circles to end the strike. He pledged to discuss a plan today in his cabinet to release “approximately 6.0 billion euros in direct aid and tax rebates and 10 billion euros in state-guaranteed loans to cushion the impact of the crisis on families and businesses.”

This is a temporary measure that will only partially compensate for the explosion in fuel prices. It is to remain in place until June 30 and effect “a minimum reduction of 20 cents per liter of fuel,” Sanchez said, with 15 cents of the reduction being financed by the state and 5 cents by oil companies.

On Monday, average petrol prices in Spain ranged between €1.84 and 1.98 per liter, while diesel stood at between €1.86 and 1.95.