“The price of fuel above 2 euros? Today it is only speculation”. So the Minister of Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, interviewed by “La Stampa”, defends the decision to cancel the cut in excise duties on petrol, in force until the end of last year, to concentrate resources on aid against high bills. “But if the increases should be structural – he assures – the government is ready to intervene again”. As for gas, “if the downward trend in prices continues, we would already have positive effects on bills by the end of January”. Meanwhile, the government collects the maintenance of storage, “thanks to the consumption containment plan and the mild climate” and confirms the time schedule for the entry into service of the new regasification terminals.
During the approval phase of the Budget Law, the minister then recalls, “we examined the priorities and in this reasoning we decided to intervene by allocating 21 billion euros against expensive bills. With the current price levels of gas and oil, I believe that any breach of the 2 euro would be just speculation. And in any case, if the price of fuel should return to stable and significant growth, the government is ready to intervene”.
Forza Italia aligned with the Minister of the Environment
Among the first to support Pichetto Fratin is the Deputy Minister of Justice, the blue Francesco Paolo Sisto. In Agorà (Rai 3) he confirms that, if necessary, Palazzo Chigi “will intervene on the cost of petrol. The government is absolutely present. Tackling high bills had absolute priority, and an immediate and effective response was given on this point. The resources did not allow us to also affect excise duties, but we are vigilant and, if necessary, we will intervene”. On Radio Anch’io the deputy and head of the Energy Department of Forza Italia, Luca Squeri arrives atto hope that the Executive will identify as soon as possible “the resources necessary for the structural reduction of excise duties on petrol”. Once the discount on fuel has been cancelled, he underlines, “we have returned to paying for Italy’s atavistic problem: we are the European country where taxes have the greatest impact on the price at the pump. Unfortunately, the industrial cost of fuel added to taxes gives exactly the final price. It is arithmetic, speaking of speculation is a wrong simplification. Unless the state is considered a speculator, which applies taxes that are among the highest in the world”.
Opposition to attack
The reassurances of the majority on the Government that it says it is ready to intervene to avoid speculation on the high price of petrol respond closely to various voices of the opposition, ready to highlight the limits of the Executive on this point. “Minister Picetto Fratin brings up speculation to justify the increase in the price of petrol. Obviously let’s fight it but the question is much simpler: the Draghi government has cut excise duties by 30 cents, the Meloni government has canceled the cut. The opposite of what the premier had promised in the electoral campaign”, he recalls for example Raffaella Shirtpresident of the group Action-Italia Viva in the Senate. “While they restore excise duties on petrol and raise cash on citizens (remember? The ones that Salvini and Meloni promised to remove) they remove managers in the public administration to put in loyalists. The occupation of power is their priority, certainly not the country”. So instead Stefano Vaccari of Pd. For the VP M5S in the Chamber of Deputies, Augustine Santillo, “we are faced with a government that takes away from the poor and fattens the rich. An incredible paradox, if we think of the hypocrisy of Meloni’s proclamations before arriving at the government, which only in 2019 attacked the majority by invoking the cut in excise taxes on fuel”.*
Italian motorists queuing in San Marino
To confirm that expensive petrol is a reality, it is enough to pass near San Marino: every time the price of fuel increases in Italy, within the borders of the Republic of Titano, petrol stations do a booming business, with thousands of (Italian) motorists queuing for hours to fill up, taking advantage of an average price per liter which stopped at 1.50 euros. The economic advantage for those who can afford the trip to San Marino is only temporary: as already happened for example in 2016, the San Marino government will soon adjust prices and excise duties. The difference will remain but minimal and due to the difference in VAT, 22% in Italy and 21% in San Marino.