Andorra Approves Law Enshrining 20-Cent Petrol and 15-Cent Diesel Price Cuts

The General Council has approved the law underpinning the fuel price cuts, with discounts of 20 cents per litre on petrol and 15 cents on diesel now enshrined in legislation. The measure has been in force since early September and was passed by assent, though the government faced sharp criticism from the Social Democratic (PS) group over its timing and motivations.

Finance Minister Ramon Lladós told the chamber that the reduction is temporary and is intended to ease pressure on household purchasing power while preserving Andorra's price differential with neighbouring countries. He stressed that the discount is applied jointly by the government, through a reduction in the special fuel tax, and by the distribution sector, through lower tariffs—an arrangement he said has no equivalent elsewhere. Lladós also cited stable electricity prices, a minimum wage increase applied in July and free public transport as part of a broader effort to protect residents, describing bus services as now the best option for citizens given fuel costs.

PS councillor Pere Baró questioned that narrative, asking why the executive had not acted sooner if families were the priority. He noted that fuel prices began rising sharply in March but that the tax relief was not decided until July, arguing that the government moved only after large fuel companies raised the issue. "They waited to be told something by the big diesel companies," he said, adding that the reaction came in response to sector interests rather than when people were at risk.

Baró confirmed the PS supported the bill but warned against what he called a misleading account of its origins. He also pointed to social democratic proposals the government and its majority have rejected, including indexing wages and pensions to inflation, raising the income tax threshold, and extending rental protections, and called for structural measures to improve household purchasing power.

Lladós said the decision followed analysis of price trends and sales volumes, and assured that operators are passing the reduction on to consumers.

The law grants legal cover to a scheme that had been operating on an interim basis since September.