Council of Ministers at 6pm on two decrees: fuel prices and strategic plants

This morning this newspaper reported that the extension of the excise duty cut expired today and that the government was working on a mobile excise mechanism and a contribution from oil companies. The new development this afternoon is the meeting call: the Council of Ministers convenes at 6pm on Wednesday, August 26, 2026 at Palazzo Chigi, and the agenda features two decree laws, not one.

The first decree: oil prices

The measure is described as containing urgent provisions on oil prices linked to the prolonged crisis in international markets, according to the account by ANSA of the agenda.

It is worth setting out the exact figures, because the mini-extension signed last week is narrower than how it has been portrayed. The Ministry of Economy decree of August 20, published in Official Gazette no. 195, covers only two days: August 25 and 26, 2026. For those two days the excise duty rate on diesel fuel is set at 532.90 euros per thousand litres, with the reduction reserved solely for diesel and no action on petrol, as reconstructed by Edotto based on the published text.

The funding is the one we wrote about this morning: the mobile excise duty mechanism, that is, the additional VAT revenue generated by the rise in the international price of oil. Without a new measure, from August 27 the excise duty on diesel returns to its ordinary level. It is this deadline — tomorrow — that explains the evening timing of the meeting.

The second decree: strategic plants

The second measure on the agenda contains urgent steps to ensure the operational continuity of plants of national strategic interest. According to ANSA, it concerns the former Ilva plant. On this point the news currently comes from a single source (the ANSA agency); no independent confirmation available, and the text of the decree is not public.

A not insignificant calendar coincidence: the meeting is being held while the twentieth edition of the Mediterranean Games is under way in Taranto.

The cost of petrol, meanwhile

On the price front the picture is worsening. The Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy recorded a further increase in the days before August 26, with diesel reaching 2.204 euros per litre on motorways.

Confesercenti’s Economic Office, processing Mimit data, estimates that in July and August 2026 Italian motorists spent up to 1.8 billion euros more than in the same months of 2025. In the same period the excise duty cut reduced fuel spending by about 300 million: the benefit was concentrated on diesel, because the discount reintroduced from July 28 applied only to diesel, at 17 cents per litre.

Item	Figure
Additional spending July-August 2026 vs 2025 (Confesercenti estimate)	1.8 billion euros
Savings produced by the excise duty cut in the same period	about 300 million euros
Diesel on motorways (Mimit reading)	2.204 euros per litre
Diesel excise duty, August 25-26	532.90 euros per thousand litres

The relationship between the two figures is the real political substance of this evening’s meeting: about 300 million in estimated savings against estimated additional spending of up to 1.8 billion, according to Confesercenti’s calculations based on Mimit data.

What we don’t know

The text of neither decree is public. The duration of the new extension is not known, if there will be one, nor whether it will remain limited to diesel or be extended to petrol. It is not known how it will be funded beyond the additional VAT revenue already used, nor whether the contribution from oil companies that has been discussed for days will be included in the text. There is only one verifiable check: publication in the Official Gazette, expected in the hours following the meeting.