Dear fuel, government convenes table with hauliers
Quick Look
- The hauliers are protesting against the high cost of fuel and the failure to release the resources allocated in May, with spontaneous blockades already started in Puglia and protests planned in Calabria and Sicily.
- The government has called a meeting for October 27 at the Ministry of Transport, while fuel reserves are running low in Basilicata and Calabria.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The protests are linked to the increase in diesel prices, which have grown by over 50 cents per liter since the beginning of the war, and to the failure to release the resources allocated in May to combat the high cost of fuel.
Protests mount in Southern Italy. Spontaneous blockades in Puglia, from tomorrow there will be protests in Calabria and in the next few days in Sicily. The government responds to the trade unions' request for a meeting
Hauliers are threatening to block Italy to protest against the high cost of fuel and the failure to release the resources allocated in May to counter the increase in diesel prices. In the wake of spontaneous protests which have already started with autonomous blockades in Southern Italy, particularly in Puglia, and which from tomorrow will also extend to Calabria and then continue in the next few days in Sicily, the government has convened a round table for 27 October at the Ministry of Transport. Meanwhile in Basilicata and Calabria there is alarm because fuel reserves are running out, with several petrol stations running dry and long queues to refuel.
"Spontaneous protests"
"They are spontaneous protests, not governed and not proclaimed by trade associations, which makes the picture even more disturbing because it means that we are moving in the context of the desperation of entrepreneurs", said the president of Conftrasporto, Pasquale Russo. Linea Unatras, (National Union of Goods Road Transport Associations) speaks of "a widespread malaise that is no longer sustainable on the part of companies". The acronyms have both called for an intervention from the executive: "We ask the government for an urgent ad horas convocation of the road haulage associations, otherwise we will have to resort to the evaluation of a national shutdown and the country will come to a standstill", said Russo, while Unatras had warned: "If it does not convene a meeting with the utmost urgency, it assumes the responsibility of consigning the sector to total paralysis".
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The alarm of the unions
According to the unions, "further allocations" are needed to stem the continuous rise in the price of diesel which has seen "an increase of more than 50 cents per liter since the beginning of the war", recalls the president of Conftrasporto. In Puglia and Calabria the emergency is exacerbated by the logistical crisis affecting the distribution network also due to the blockade of the Taranto refinery, linked to the former Ilva strike. "The Meloni government must intervene immediately on the fuel emergency, which has now extended to the entire South", was the request from the Calabria Democratic Party. While the president of Confindustria Puglia, Nicola Delle Donne, warns that "many companies risk stopping due to lack of fuel: from transport to infrastructure and construction".
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The government will take urgent measures to release the resources allocated in May and control fuel prices by the end of October.
Likely · Within weeks
If there is no effective intervention, the protests will spread nationwide with a transport stoppage.
Possible · Within weeks
Open Questions
- What concrete measures will the government adopt at the meeting on 27 October?
- Will the protests spread to other regions beyond Puglia, Calabria and Sicily?
- How long will the blockades last and what will the effects be on the distribution of goods and fuel?
