SaS Blasts Fico's Plan to Subsidise Public Transport Fares

Bratislava, 8 April (TASR) - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party has criticised Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) for his proposal to make rail and bus transport more attractive by way of lower fares. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, SaS instead reiterated its call for the adoption of its proposal to reduce excise duty on fuels, as well as to cut VAT on petrol and diesel and introduce lower toll charges for road hauliers. According to the liberals, these measures would help to stabilise fuel prices more effectively than subsidising rail and bus travel. At the beginning of the week, Fico said that discounted travel by train and bus could help to reduce fuel consumption. SaS chairman Branislav Groehling warned that subsidising train and bus travel would cost several million euros and be far more expensive than reducing excise duty. "I once again call on coalition MPs — let us now all help Slovakia and its people and adopt the proposal to cut excise duty," he said. SaS vice-chair Marian Viskupic stated that further subsidies for trains are not the solution. "Trains will not be fixed by making them cheaper. None of this will help people get to work better. The way forward is to support the economy, introduce real measures and increase competitiveness," he said. In Viskupic's view, combating inflation and improving the country's competitiveness would be aided not only by reducing fuel excise duty to the European minimum, but also by temporarily lowering VAT on petrol and diesel. He also proposed reducing toll charges for road hauliers. mf/df