The Liberal Initiative (IL) proposed this Thursday to eliminate the Audiovisual Contribution (CAV) to reduce the electricity bill, a measure taken in France in summer and that would allow families an annual saving of about 35 euros.
In statements to the Lusa agency about the bill that was presented in parliament, IL deputy Bernardo Blanco explained that it is a measure that the party has already proposed in the past, but now insists again because it is “urgent in the face of the context of rising energy prices”.
According to the liberal deputy, the Government’s measure for electricity within the framework of the support package for families to deal with inflation “will only mean a saving of one euro per month”.
“Minister Duarte Cordeiro said that every euro saved is a euro saved. Following this logic, we now propose to eliminate the contribution to audiovisual financed by RTP, which is about three euros a month in people’s bills“, he said, adding that it would allow savings “three times greater” than that proposed by the Government.
This measure, according to Bernardo Blanco, was already taken in the summer in France, “where the contribution is greater”.
“This proposal would not only help reduce the costs of the energy bill, but it also seems to us, as an ideological principle -which is why we have already put it in the past before this crisis-, that it is a precise measure because it is unfair to the Portuguese who, not having television, pay this fee because it is in the electricity bill”, he defended.
For the IL deputy, the CAV also represents “a market distortion in the sense that, taking into account the various operators that already exist today, RTP is the only one that receives a subsidy from taxpayers.”
Without great expectations that the PS will follow up and make the proposal viable, Bernardo Blanco considered that “the Government could follow this measure, in the image of France, even temporarily.”
The liberal bill proposes “a new financing model for the public radio and television service, eliminating the Audiovisual Contribution.”
According to the text, “the financing of the public broadcasting and television service is ensured in the terms established in this law and in the respective concession contracts” and “by the commercial income of the respective services.”
In addition to its own income, RTP is financed by the CAV, whose value in the electricity bill has remained this year at 2.85 euros.
In the General State Budgets for 2022 (OE2022), the Government proposed to maintain the value of the CAV and not update this contribution.
Source: Observadora
