Gasoline prices spiral out of control, and the government intervenes: "We will activate mobile excise taxes."
Giorgia Meloni: "With this instrument, the state will forgo increased VAT revenue while reducing costs." The Prime Minister reiterates: "We are not at war, and we will not enter one."A petrol station on the 131 (Archive), in the inset Giorgia Meloni (Ansa)
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The government is open to the opposition's requests to reactivate the mobile excise duty mechanism , already planned for 2023, to curb the rise in petrol prices, which in some cases has exceeded the 2 euro per litre threshold in the wake of the war in Iran .
This rush, in addition to immediately weighing down household and business budgets, risks resurging inflation. For this reason, the issue could be discussed as early as next Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.
The announcement came this evening from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a video message from Palazzo Chigi, effectively confirming what Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti had said earlier.
"The government is working to mitigate the consequences of the conflict as much as possible for citizens and our nation, with task forces activated to monitor the price trends of energy, gasoline, and food products and to combat speculation," the Prime Minister stated.
"Specifically," Meloni said, "we are also evaluating the possibility of activating the so-called mobile excise tax mechanism for gasoline, which this government has made more effective with the 2023 fuel bill, should prices rise steadily. This mechanism, whose activation is also being requested by some opposition parties, allows the portion of the increased VAT resulting from price increases to be used to reduce excise duties ." This, the prime minister specified, "is the sterilization tool we had written into the center-right government's program, and its activation has already been under consideration by the Ministry of Economy for a few days."
Speculation is the buzzword used by both the prime minister and Minister Tajani. Although gasoline is still arriving from crude oil shipments already delivered before the conflict began, prices have skyrocketed since the closure of Hormuz .
In Sardinia, the average price of diesel fuel today, according to the Mimit observatory, is €1.955 at self-service stations, and €1.779 for gasoline . "There's too much speculation; nothing direct has happened yet," Tajani said, speaking via video conference at the Forza Italia event 'Azzurri in Vetta', the party's rally underway in Saint-Vincent. "These are unjustified increases," but the fault, he clarified, "is not the gas station attendant's; there's speculation upstream." This "anomalous" trend also prompted Business Minister Adolfo Urso to request the intervention of Mister Prices and the Guardia di Finanza (Italian Finance Police).
In her video message, Giorgia Meloni also wanted to clarify Italy's position on the conflict: " We are not part of the war and we do not intend to become part of it . We are in a difficult phase, but the Government is committed to protecting the security of Italy and its citizens, to supporting every initiative aimed at seeking peace. " The dispatch of an Italian frigate to Cyprus is "an act of European solidarity and prevention, to guarantee the security of EU borders."
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(Unioneonline)