Government passes decree for road hauliers, agriculture and fishing after blockades in the South

The 194th Council of Ministers met on Thursday at Palazzo Chigi and approved a decree law containing urgent measures for road haulage, agriculture and fishing. The measure provides for the use of funds to purchase approximately 121 million liters of fuel, with a contribution of up to 45 cents per liter for businesses in the sector.

The news currently stems from a single source - the Italian Government’s statement, taken up by the outlets that covered the meeting - and no further independent confirmation is available on the technical details of the decree.

The approval comes at the end of days of road blockades over high diesel prices, concentrated mainly in the South. In the early hours of Thursday, before the Council of Ministers gave its go-ahead, road hauliers in Sicily and Calabria had decided to suspend the protest, while the mobilization remained active in Campania.

Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida described the blockades as unlawful, pointing to what he described as clear criminal infiltration in the protests. The same minister placed the measure in continuity with a previous intervention, explaining that today’s measure extends until October 15 a support scheme already underway for businesses that purchased agricultural fuel:

“reimbursing the businesses that purchased agricultural fuel” — Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister of Agriculture

The decree thus moves on two distinct but connected fronts: on one hand, direct economic support for freight transport and agricultural businesses, through the fuel contribution; on the other, the management of public order linked to weeks of road blockades, which in some southern regions have slowed the movement of goods and people.

The situation in Campania remains open at the time of this article’s publication, where the protest does not appear to have been suspended yet despite the Council of Ministers’ approval of the measure.