Van Peteghem wants to make refueling even cheaper

Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) wants to reduce the excise duties on petrol and diesel to the European minimum. The total discount would then be 17.5 euros for a full tank.

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‘It is difficult for people to go to work or to take their children to school by car,’ says Van Peteghem. Petrol prices are through the roof these days. That is why he proposes to further reduce the excise duties on petrol and diesel to the European minimum. Germany took a similar measure yesterday.

In March, the excise duty was already reduced by 17.5 cents per liter, but that reduction was immediately overtaken by the further galloping petrol prices. Without that reduction, a full tank of 60 liters would cost 10.5 euros more today. Van Peteghem wants that reduction to be maintained for the time being. It normally expires in September.

But the minister wants to go further. “With the upcoming oil boycott against Russia, prices may rise further,” he said in the margins of the parliamentary debate. That is why he will argue in the upcoming talks about additional purchasing power measures to further reduce excise duties to the European minimum. Then another 11 cents would go off or 7 euros per fill-up. For example, the total excise tax discount would amount to 17.5 euros per refueling.

This is not an obvious measure, because it comes with a hefty price tag. It also comes on top of the billion-dollar proposals that the Greens and the PS have already launched. The Court of Audit estimated the price tag for the first reduction at 640 million euros. This high cost is also the reason why Van Peteghem only wants to introduce the measure temporarily.

In addition, it will not be obvious to let the Greens take another measure that encourages car use, while the climate transition requires that more people leave their car behind.

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