"I spoke with the finance minister, and if it turns out that the situation is unstable again and that prices could rise once more, we will propose a solution to introduce regulated fuel prices, at least for the final two weeks of the summer holidays, when people begin returning from vacations," Tusk told a news conference in the southern town of Głuchołazy.
Tusk said the measure could be introduced despite President Karol Nawrocki's decision to refer a bill on a windfall tax for fuel companies to the constitutional court for review.
Brent crude was trading at around USD 90 a barrel on Monday, after briefly rising above USD 100 a barrel last week, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Nawrocki said on Friday that he had decided to send the bill for preventive constitutional review.
The proposed tax would have targeted fuel producers and importers that recorded unusually high profits following energy market disruptions caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
"It's a bit of a shame about the PLN 4 billion (EUR 930 million, USD 1 billion) because we planned to allocate that money to lowering fuel prices," Tusk said.
The proposed windfall tax was intended to partly offset lost budget revenues resulting from a temporary reduction in fuel taxes.
Under the government's "Fuel Prices Down" programme, introduced in late March, value-added tax (VAT) on some fuels was cut to 8 percent, while excise duties were reduced to the minimum levels allowed under European Union rules.
The bill referred by Nawrocki to the Constitutional Tribunal envisaged total revenue of PLN 4 billion from the windfall tax, including PLN 3.8 billion this year and the remainder in 2027.
The fuel price relief programme expired at the end of June, ending reduced VAT rates on some fuels and maximum price limits at filling stations.
Earlier in June, fuel excise tax reductions also expired. The finance ministry said the program cost the government about PLN 4.7 billion.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP