Romania: Drivers' fuel price protest jams Bucharest traffic

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Drivers' fuel price protest jams Bucharest traffic

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian truck and taxi drivers, denouncing high diesel and gasoline prices, blocked roads outside the government headquarters Wednesday, snarling traffic throughout central Bucharest.

Hundreds of trucks, vans and taxis drove through Bucharest, blocking traffic on main streets in protests similar to those which hit western Europe last month.

Trade union leaders started talks with the government in an attempt to resolve the issue. Drivers have threatened to block access to several refineries across the country if the talks fail.

The drivers are demanding a 50 percent cut in excise duties for gasoline and diesel oil and a freeze on fuel and energy prices. Excise duties and taxes represent around 75 percent of the retail price of gasoline and diesel.

``We will have no money to pay for fuel and for energy this winter if the government raises those prices further,'' driver Gheorghe Berbecan told Reuters.

The national oil company SNP Petrom last month increased retail prices by 5.9 percent for leaded gasoline to 12,400 lei per liter and by 1.1 percent for diesel to 9,250 lei per liter. It said the rise was in line with the surge in global oil prices.

http://www.mercurycenter.com/breaking/docs/017619.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), October 04, 2000


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