Spain’s parliament approved Thursday a sweeping package worth €5 billion ($5.8 billion) aimed at curbing the economic impact of the Middle East war, including steep cuts to energy taxes.
The measures passed with 175 votes in favour, 33 against and 141 abstentions.
“These measures are designed to protect our productive sectors and the most vulnerable people,” Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said last week when he unveiled the plan.
The measures include cuts to value-added tax on gas and fuel expected to reduce pump prices by as much as 0.3 euros per litre, or roughly €20 per tank for the average car.
Advertisement
Additional support includes a direct subsidy of €0.2 per litre of fuel for transport operators, farmers, ranchers and fishermen, along with lower electricity taxes.
Gasoline prices in Spain surged from €1.5 per litre on February 28th, when the US-Israeli bombings against Iran began, to 1.8 euros per litre over the weekend.
Sánchez defiantly refused to let US troops use its bases to attack Iran at the start of the conflict, a move that drew sharp criticism from US President Donald Trump.
“Every bomb that falls in the Middle East eventually hits, as we are already seeing, the wallets of our families,” Sánchez told parliament Wednesday.
The European Union’s fourth-largest economy has in recent years registered growth rates far higher than its peers, notably thanks to domestic consumption, tourism and exports.
But officials fear that the conflict could dampen growth.
