- Title: ALBANIA-FUEL/PROTEST Albanians protest over high fuel prices
- Date: 26th January 2015
- Summary: TIRANA, ALBANIA (JANUARY 26, 2015) (REUTERS) TIRANA CENTRE WITH PEOPLE WALKING NEAR STATIONARY VEHICLES VARIOUS OF STATIONARY VEHICLES JOURNALISTS FILMING HALTED VEHICLES PETROL STATION VARIOUS OF WORKER PUTTING PETROL IN CAR (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) CAR OWNER, LUAN HOXHA, SAYING: "It is worse than before, in all the other countries the price of fuel has dropped. Only in Albania it remains very high. (JOURNALIST ASKING: "Can you cope with this?") We have to move less, that's it." FUEL PRICES AT PETROL STATION (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) HEAD OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY, AND MAYOR OF TIRANA, LULZIM BASHA, SAYING: "It is the tax that directly influences the food of Albanian children, directly influences the cost of public and private transportation. It destroys any perspective of getting out of the economic crisis that they [the government] has put the country." FORMER ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER, SALI BERISHA, LISTENING TO BASHA TRAFFIC IN TIRANA MOTORCYCLIST PETRIT PEMA PAYING FOR PETROL PETROL STATION WORKER FILLING TANK (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) MOTORCYCLIST, PETRIT PEMA, SAYING: "I think that the price of fuel in Albania is the highest in all of Europe, as a result I am not driving a car but a motorcycle to save on fuel money." GATE AT ALBANIAN PARLIAMENT BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) HEAD OF ECONOMIC COMMISSION IN ALBANIAN PARLIAMENT AND SOCIALIST PARTY MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, ERION BRACE, SAYING: "In fact the (fuel) price is not the highest in Europe, we are among the cheapest in Europe. We also are not among the most expensive in the region but among the cheapest regarding fuel, whether it is diesel or gasoline. Today the price is 1.29 USD, which includes the circulation tax which other countries of Europe or the region haven't incorporated in the price per litre of fuel. Without this tax the price would be 1.07 USD. I will not back down from what I said earlier that the oil market still remains concentrated and it needs to be opened so it becomes more competitive." VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC IN TIRANA
- Embargoed: 10th February 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Albania
- Country: Albania
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA7A0FJIIZANFQN8L1RHBFNMNIA
- Story Text: Drivers who back the opposition Democratic Party blocked traffic in some streets and roads of Albania on Monday (January 26) to protest taxes they say are keeping fuel prices high.
They complaint is that the drop in oil prices worldwide should be reflected in local fuel prices, which would cut costs for Albanians and help to revive the sluggish Albanian economy, among Europe's poorest.
"It is worse than before, in all the other countries the price of fuel has dropped. Only in Albania it remains very high," one car owner, Luan Hoxha, said.
Joining the seven-minute blockade of two streets in a busy crossroads on Tirana's main avenue -- which was ignored by some drivers - Democratic party leader and mayor of Tirana, Lulzim Basha, said the fuel tax for weighing twice as much on Albanians as other Europeans.
"It is the tax that directly influences the food of Albanian children, directly influences the cost of public and private transportation. It destroys any perspective of getting out of the economic crisis that they [the government] has put the country," Basha told reporters.
Diesel was priced 161 leke ($1.30 dollar) per litre and unleaded gasoline at 164 leke in central Tirana. Elsewhere, Reuters found it was selling for 158 leke ($1.27 dollar) per litre of diesel and gasoline.
"I think that the price of fuel in Albania is the highest in all of Europe, as a result I am not driving a car but a motorcycle to save on fuel money," motorcyclist Petrit Pema said.
Ironically, it was the Democrats who introduced a 5-leke tax per litre of fuel at the pump in July 2011 because they were not able to collect it otherwise. They raised the tax by another 7 leke in 2013. The Socialists have raised it twice, by 10 leke in 2014 and 2015, since they came to power in 2013.
Erion Brace, an outspoken Socialist who heads parliament's economy commission, said prices in Albania were not the most expensive in Europe and in fact were among the cheapest in the Balkans, but admitted the market needed opening up.
"In fact the (fuel) price is not the highest in Europe, we are among the cheapest in Europe. We also are not among the most expensive in the region but among the cheapest regarding fuel, whether it is diesel or gasoline. Today the price is 1.29 USD, which includes the circulation tax which other countries of Europe or the region haven't incorporated in the price per litre of fuel. Without this tax the price would be 1.07 USD. I will not back down from what I said earlier that the oil market still remains concentrated and it needs to be opened so it becomes more competitive," Brace told Reuters TV.
Albania's Competition Authority is investigating what it suspects is an oligopoly in the retail fuel market. Prices have come down 20 percent in the last 16 months, the government says. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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