The government is buying time on the fuel price hike, but is preparing the ground for a new intervention if the Hormuz crisis should continue. After the ten-day extension of the diesel excise discount decided the day before yesterday, the real issue shifts to September 6.
If tensions in the oil markets remain high, the government will have to decide how to intervene. One possibility is the return of mobile excise duties: at the beginning of September, data on the VAT extra revenue will be available to offset the pump price increases. But targeted and “selective” aid is under study, on which political debate is open.
The idea of a bonus in the social card has been dropped within the majority, which had the advantage of being “visible” and communicable, but presented problems on how to select the target group, the idea of a bonus in the payslip emerges that the employer could deduct as a cost.
«On September 6, the mobile excise duties for August can be activated, we will see how much room there is. If the crisis should last at this scale, we will make a selective assessment. One possibility is employer fuel vouchers, through fringe benefits. I believe it was a good intuition by Deputy Minister Leo,» explains Marco Osnato, the Economy head of Brothers of Italy.
Forza Italia also pushes for a solution aimed especially at those who use the car for work. The League has an even firmer position against income-related interventions. «From historical experience, they always leave out the entire middle class, which every time turns out to be too rich,» warns Claudio Borghi, senator of the League.
On the opposite front, consumer associations ask to avoid the emergency turning into a bonus game. Codacons contests both the social card and selective aid: «They would have no direct effect on the price of gasoline and diesel. Pump prices would remain unchanged and millions of motorists would continue to pay high fuel prices».
Federconsumatori also calls for more incisive and lasting measures, urging «a discount of at least 20 cents on gasoline and at least 25 on diesel, for an adequate period of time and not in a spot manner», and controls against possible «speculative phenomena».
For the operators of distribution plants affiliated with Faib and Fegica, on the other hand, there would be grounds to suspend the liberalization of fuel prices: «Either everyone plays the same game or the rules to return, at least temporarily, to the supervised (administered) price exist. And perhaps some other initiative could also be spent on the mobile excise: starting from the definition of an invariance band to keep prices stable for defined periods».
Read more Public water in Tuscany: «I recommend the «Sardinia model» with a single company for management»
