Reduction of the excise duty discount on fuel from 20 to 10 cents per liter for diesel. The consequence, according to some consumer calculations, will be 6.1 euros more on average for a full tank of diesel per driver, 2.09 euros per liter for self-service vehicles while on the motorway it will rise to an average of 2.18 euros per liter. And this is one side of the coin. On the other hand there is a stock emergency scenario. Diesel fuel rose, net of taxes, by 52 cents between February 27 and April 13. «And, at that moment, a reduction of 20 cents in the excise duty on diesel, with VAT 24.4 cents per litre, was justified. Then from April 13th to last Friday, net prices fell by 15 cents and this justifies a halving of the excise duty discount from today”, the president of Nomisma Energia, Davide Tabarelli, tells ANSA, inviting us to give a “scarcity signal” to curb fuel consumption. According to the parameters provided by Tabarelli, on May 21st in Italy the prices of diesel fuel were 14 cents lower than France, 1 cent higher than Germany, 30 cents lower than Holland and 30 cents more expensive than Spain. And compared to the measures taken by other countries, again according to the analysis of Nomisma Energia, “Spain has chosen to cut taxes as much as possible, from 21 March, reducing both excise duties and VAT, while, on the contrary, France keeps them high. Germany has adopted reductions similar to those of Italy, up until today”. “We have an ongoing crisis and the reduction in fuel prices is an incentive to consume, contrary – explains Tabarelli – to the prospect of scarcity”.
Prices set to rise
As of May 23, based on the latest data collected by the Mimit fuel price observatory, the average price of fuel in “self service” mode along the national road network was 1.967 euros per liter for petrol and 1.979 euros per liter for diesel. On the motorway network, however, the average self-service price is 2.055 euros per liter for petrol and 2.065 euros per liter for diesel. Prices, however, are destined to rise as a result of the measure, valid until June 6, approved by the Council of Ministers, say consumer associations. «As a result of the government’s decision, Italy will return to the top of the European diesel price ranking, placing itself in 6th place among the countries with the highest average diesel price, behind only the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, France and Belgium». Starting from today and until next June 6, notes the Coordination of consumer protection associations, the discount on the price of diesel at the pump drops from today to 12.2 euro cents per litre. For Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumers’ Union (UNC), “for the government, motorists are chickens to be plucked” while Riccardo Verona, president of An.bti Confcommercio, National Association of Italian Tourist Buses speaks of “short-sighted, unidirectional and incomprehensible choices”. On the road transport front, the CGIA then notes, after 3 months of crisis, the high price of diesel has cost 2.1 billion, with most significant increases in Lombardy (257.9 million euros), Campania (251.6) and Sicily (232.2). For the CNA, the expensive bill costs artisans between 3 and 4 billion and the van, says president Dario Costantini, “is becoming a traveling bill worth thousands of euros”. The government’s intervention on excise duties on fuel is part of a package of measures in favor of families and businesses, and also concerns road transport. and agriculture, says the president of the senators of Forza Italia, Stefania Craxi. Satisfaction from Unatras who already after the government’s decisions had announced the suspension of the national ban on hauliers from 25 to 29 May.