MADRID, 21 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, has indicated that the fines for companies in the oil sector that adopt anti-competitive practices "must be a disincentive", so that "truly" it does not compensate them for violating the regulations .

In the control session, Calviño remarked that for this to happen it is necessary for all the institutions to support a "firm sanctioning" regime. In this sense, the minister stressed that the Government's support for the investigations carried out by the CNMC in this regard "is total".

This is how the vice president responded to a question from the EH Bildu deputy, Oskar Matute, who blamed the fact that the Executive's support for Competition is not so resounding, since "there is a lack of resources and means, for which "it could be done anything else".

In this context, Matute recalled some of the benefits in the first nine months of the year of some oil companies, such as Repsol (3,222 million until September) and Cepsa (982 million until September).

"Don't you think they have already earned enough?" Matute snapped at the minister. Likewise, the Basque deputy has criticized the slight magnitude of the fines against the large companies in the sector, which in his opinion "are cornering the rest of the small companies".

In his reply, Calviño has assured that he is "totally in agreement" with Matute's proposals, as well as that the fines on companies must discourage them from undertaking certain practices that go against free competition. Likewise, the vice president has insisted on the support and impulse of the Executive to the Competition body is "total" so that it investigates and supervises the evolution of the energy markets and detects any type of abuse.

Additionally, the minister has stressed that from the outset the Executive is urging and supporting determined action, where she has recalled the recently approved tax on energy companies.