Lisbon, Sept. 9, 2026 (Lusa) - Portugal's minister for the environment and energy argued on Wednesday that fuel price controls should only be used as a last resort, maintaining that the market should be allowed to function and that the State should act through taxation and support schemes.
«Price controls are a measure that should only be used as a last resort, because it is the State that pays the price; we must let the market function,» said Maria da Graça Carvalho during a parliamentary hearing before the Committee on the Environment and Energy.
The minister said she was not in favour of direct intervention in prices and instead advocated fiscal measures and support targeted at consumers and the most vulnerable sectors.
«I am not an advocate of interfering with the market; we should let the market function and then act through taxation and support for the most vulnerable,» she stated.
Graça Carvalho cited past experiences to justify this position, referring to a decision to cap fuel prices during a government led by António Guterres.
According to the minister, former minister Joaquim Pina Moura later acknowledged that this intervention had been a bad decision.
«There is evidence; just yesterday I read some statements by former Minister Pina Moura, from the time of Mr Guterres, when fuel prices were capped, and he himself says it was the worst measure he ever took in his life, because interfering with the market always has negative consequences,» she said.
The minister also cited the Iberian gas price cap mechanism, adopted during the energy crisis, as an example of the risks of interfering with the functioning of the market.
«Interference in the Iberian market through the gas price cap [...] had very serious consequences, particularly for Spain, but also for Portugal,» she said.
She added that, in her view, investment in wind energy fell following the implementation of that mechanism.
The minister also reiterated that the government's strategy to address the rise in fuel prices involves easing the tax burden and concentrating support on the most vulnerable sectors, rather than fixing prices administratively.
The rise in fuel prices is taking place against a backdrop of escalating tensions in the Middle East, to which the minister added the effects of the war between Russia and Ukraine on refining capacity and energy supplies.
She warned that the destruction or reduction in capacity at various refineries, as has been the case, could mean that it takes time for the market to stabilise even after the conflicts have ended, as such infrastructure takes years to rebuild.
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