Edition 82
www.thecourier.es
Friday, September 14, 2012
Our latest edition is always online at www.thecourier.es
PUMP UP PRICES AND YOU’LL PAY! Government warns big Red Cross may spell green light for market
MONCAYO Market may re-open on Tuesdays – to help families struggling to survive. Market organisers held a meeting last week with the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) in the hope of reversing the local authority decision to limit Moncayo to just one day a week’s trading – namely Saturday. The son of Spanish people in Guardamar had informed the organisers that local families had been finding things tough since the closure of the market on Tuesdays and Fridays. Now the organisers have offered to run the market one day per week with all the proceeds going to Cruz Roca in Guardamar. They are now awaiting a
decision from Guardamar Town Hall as to whether the idea is acceptable. The future of the Moncayo Market was thrown into doubt following the sudden suspension of its midweek operation in July. The previous three-daysa-week operation ended on July 20 when its Tuesday and Friday operation was suspended - apparently on the instructions of the local authority. One English trader told The Courier at the time: “I’m confused. Here we are, expats in Spain trying to earn a living in a time of financial crisis and they won’t let you do it. It seems ludicrous to me. They should be encouraging us, not shutting us down.’’
By DONNA GEE
SPAIN’S leading petrol companies and distributors have been told by the Government to control their prices – or face sanctions. The country’s three top suppliers – Repsol, Cepsa and BP – held discussions with officials of the Rajoy administration on Wednesday evening. And they accepted that they must keep a rein on their margins of profit in order to keep the lid on further price increases. According to figures released on the fuel-priceseurope.info website yesterday (Thursday), the average price of 95 unleaded petrol in Spain is €1.497 a litre. But local motorists report an all-time high of around €1.55 in the Torrevieja area. Wednesday’s meeting came after the companies were accused by the National Competition Commission (CNC) of increasing the cost of fuel immediately the option presented itself – yet taking their time lowering pump prices following any fall in the price of crude.
three over fuel hike
José Manuel Soria, the Minister for Industry, has warned petrol companies and distributors that measures will be taken if they do not cooperate. But Antonio Brufau, chairman of Repsol, promised after the meeting: 'What we can do, we will do'. In June, filling up at Spain’s petrol stations was among the cheapest in
Europe – only Andorra at being noticeably cheaper. Today, the UK average is listed £1.419 sterling – that’s €1.77 or around 27 cents a litre more than in this country. But even Brits are considerably better off than the Norwegians - who have already gone through the €2 a litre barrier – and Turkey,
Portugal and Italy, who are on the verge of doing so. Romania now has the cheapest fuel in the European Community at €1.369 per litre. But that’s a fortune compared to the motorists of Kuwait, who pay less than 18 centimos to fill up – or around €1 a GALLON.