The president of the Port of Tarragona, Saül Garreta, has warned today about the very serious effect that the hypothetical withdrawal of the 1.1 billion euro investment that Repsol has planned in the Tarragona Petrochemical Complex would have on the infrastructure, something that could happen in the event that the Executive finally makes the tax on energy companies permanent.
The company has committed 1,100 million euros in various energy transition projects – mainly the development of the eco-plant and the largest electrolyzer in Spain – that are going to be installed in that Catalan chemical hub, which, it must be remembered, is the industrial area of this largest type in southern Europe.
On Monday, the energy company issued a statement in which, in very clear terms, it linked the possibility of continuing with that investment to the continuity of a tax that since January 2023 taxes 1.2% of its turnover.
If the tax went ahead and Repsol carried out its threat – which is a concatenation of events that is very distant for now, because PSOE and Sumar are alone in this proposal -, the consequences for the Port of Tarragona would be “total”, Garreta explained in a interview with Europa Press.
The reason he has argued is very simple, and it is that 50% of the volume of tons moved by this infrastructure depends on hydrocarbons. Speaking specifically about the tax, he assured that it is not well thought out and that what needs to be done is “support companies so that these investments can be assumed, and the public administration has to be demanding but not suffocate.”
Expressing an opinion shared by many, he has also assured that the tax should not be calculated on turnover, but on profits. “Let’s not stop the economy”he said before defending the effort made by Repsol in favor of decarbonization.
Garreta thus joins the list of Catalan business leaders who have opposed maintaining the tax. Precisely, on Monday the Catalan employers’ association Fomento del Trabajo called him “fiscal coup” citing damage to competitiveness.
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