On Friday, anger over record-high fuel prices spilled onto Portugal’s roads. Around 450 trucks, according to organizers, travelled nearly 150 km in a slow-moving convoy from Paredes, near Porto, to Coimbra along the A42, A41 and A1 motorways. In Lisbon, at 8 a.m., drivers staged a protest on the 25 de Abril Bridge, sounding their horns continuously as they crossed.
Fuel prices at Portuguese petrol stations are at an all-time high. In August, fuel prices were 24% higher than a year earlier, while diesel rose above €2 per litre. The reasons include supply disruptions linked to the war with Iran and attacks on oil refineries connected to the war in Ukraine. Most of the trucks in the convoy belonged to companies involved in earthmoving and stone extraction. They were excluded from the partial tax refund scheme already available to freight and passenger transport operators. Protesters on the bridge are demanding more. Their demands include suspending the 23% VAT on fuel, cutting toll charges on motorways and bringing back remote working, as during the pandemic. Another demand is the resignation of the environment minister, who advised people to drive more slowly to use less fuel.
On the same day, President António José Seguro signed the support package previously announced by the government. Aid for the agricultural, forestry and fishing sectors has been extended until the end of the year, including a €0.10-per-litre subsidy for agricultural diesel worth around €15 million. The €20 Passe Ferroviário Verde rail pass can now also be used on urban trains. The companies protesting on the A1 were not included in the package.
The government also assured the public that Portugal would not face fuel shortages like those seen in France: strategic reserves are sufficient for 92 days, compared with the international requirement of 90 days.
Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz acknowledged that the sector had been “forgotten in some respects” and invited its representatives to a meeting on Monday. The protesters’ main demand is lower taxes, which account for a large share of the price of fuel. So far, there has been no response to that demand. The dispute is likely to intensify in the coming weeks, when the 2027 state budget is presented to parliament.
