Italy approves trucker aid as fuel protests strip shelves

Italy’s cabinet approved a decree on Oct. 22 offering aid to road hauliers, farmers and fishermen, as truckers’ blockades over diesel prices left shelves empty across southern Italy and two Calabrian airports out of aircraft fuel.

The protests have spread since about Oct. 17 and have touched Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Basilicata and Sicily, Wanted in Rome reported. Confcommercio Sicilia estimated losses of 40 million to 50 million euros on the island alone in five days, the outlet reported on Oct. 20.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on X that there is an agreement with the haulage associations, with funds already being paid out, and that new measures for farmers and fishermen were approved Thursday. “The government listens to those who demonstrate peacefully and works to provide concrete responses,” she said, according to Euronews.

The farm measure includes 60 million euros to cover agricultural fuel costs, to be paid quickly through the agriculture payments agency Agea, Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said. Euronews reported that it covers about 121 million litres of fuel with a contribution of up to 45 cents. Payment is to follow within 30 days of paperwork being filed.

Aid figures for hauliers have varied. Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, who is also deputy prime minister, pledged about one billion euros in fuel-cost aid after meeting hauliers in Milan on Oct. 20, with 480 million euros to be released immediately, Wanted in Rome reported. Business Minister Adolfo Urso told parliament on Oct. 21 that the package exceeded one billion euros, including 434.8 million euros to compensate hauliers for diesel and about 590 million euros for fleet modernization, Euronews reported. The two outlets’ breakdowns do not match, and neither reconciled them.

The disruption is concrete. The airports at Crotone and Reggio Calabria ran out of aircraft fuel, both outlets reported. Supermarkets were short of stock in Naples, Bari, Palermo and Catanzaro, and sections of the A1 and A30 motorways in Campania were closed in places. Confesercenti, a retail association, said four in 10 southern businesses reported supply problems. Officials estimated a loss of three million euros in 24 hours for buffalo mozzarella production around Naples, Euronews reported.

The government has also stepped up enforcement. Police have identified 1,339 people, reported 71 to prosecutors and issued 242 administrative fines, and about 500 trucks are travelling under police escort in Campania, according to government figures cited by Euronews. Urso warned that blocking only trucks “still amounts to a roadblock, with criminal consequences, including possible prison sentences.”

Not every group has stood down. Euronews reported that truckers in Sicily and Calabria suspended their action in the early hours of Thursday, and Wanted in Rome said the Sicilian haulier group Aias and Calabria’s Fedralog had done so after assurances. Blockades continued in Campania and Puglia. Deputy Transport Minister Edoardo Rixi said a decision on clearing the remaining blockades would come “in the next few hours,” and that back-to-work orders were “the last tools we want to deploy.” The mayors of Naples and Bari, Gaetano Manfredi and Vito Leccese, said the situation “remains extremely critical.”

Fedralog has warned it will march on Rome if talks with Salvini on Oct. 27 fail, Wanted in Rome reported. A flexible cap on petrol and diesel prices is being discussed inside a wider fuel decree that has passed the Senate and is before the Chamber of Deputies, Euronews reported.

The unrest comes as Italy is also dealing with unrest in the north. Canada News Media reported on Oct. 20 that Rome sent 500 soldiers to Milan after two days of riots. Fuel costs are a concern in Canada too, where Canada News Media has reported on sharply higher factory-gate diesel prices.

For Canadians, the nearest effects are travel and family. Visitors heading to Calabria, Sicily or Campania may face fuel shortages and delays, and travellers should check the Government of Canada’s advisory for Italy at travel.gc.ca before leaving. More than 1.5 million Canadians report Italian origin in Statistics Canada’s 2021 census, and many have relatives in the affected southern regions.

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Via Euronews and Wanted in Rome.