Italy's Council of Ministers has approved a decree introducing support measures for the road haulage, agriculture and fishing sectors, Corriere della Sera reports, with €105 million earmarked for diesel in the haulage sector. The decision came on Thursday, 22 October 2026, as protests against high fuel prices continued in several parts of the country. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the roadblocks must be lifted, according to Corriere della Sera.
The measures were not enough to satisfy everyone. In Naples, a convoy of trucks took to the streets, with drivers telling Corriere della Sera they were disappointed by the government's response. The newspaper reported the demonstration live alongside the cabinet's approval of the decree.
Why it matters
The dispute goes to the heart of how Italy moves goods. Federconsumatori, the consumer association, noted in a statement that more than 86% of consumer goods in the country are transported by road, meaning any sustained rise in diesel costs feeds through into shelf prices. The protests have already emptied shelves in places, pushed up prices on the few goods still available, disrupted fuel supplies, blocked motorways, left canteens short and halted rubbish collection, the association said. Flights were also cancelled because of a shortage of jet fuel, it added.
The government's package extends beyond hauliers. According to Il Fatto Quotidiano, €60 million is directed to farmers and €10 million to fishermen. ANSA reported that the aid runs from trucks to fishing. Virgilio reported that Meloni granted farmers a 45-cent discount on diesel and then threatened the blockades with the Security Decree.
Pressure eases in some areas, but not all
In Reggio Calabria, the local prefect, Clara Vaccaro, convened two meetings at the Government Palace to address problems caused by the fuel-price demonstrations, which have affected the province for days. The first was held late on Wednesday and brought together the metropolitan mayor, provincial heads of the security forces and representatives of the protesters. Afterwards the demonstrators kept their protest formally alive but agreed, in what was described as a responsible gesture, to scale back their pickets and to guarantee normal traffic and the regular supply of goods. The roundtable set up on Wednesday will remain open and will pass the protesters' demands and the reasons behind the action to government bodies.
The measures in the decree must be immediately operational and practically usable by businesses, according to Legacoop Agroalimentare and Legacoop Produzione e Servizi, which represent cooperatives in agriculture, fishing, transport and logistics. The two organisations welcomed the provisions and said they hoped the package would help normalise supply chains for essential goods and encourage the removal of the roadblocks, which they said had badly hurt cooperative businesses in the affected sectors within days. Andrea Laguardia, vice-president and director of Legacoop Produzione e Servizi, said past mistakes must not be repeated, when measures and promises failed to materialise because of missing implementing decrees or bureaucratic problems. He said there could be no excuses this time because businesses need urgent solutions.
Federconsumatori offered a mixed verdict. It said the protests were slowly winding down and that it was now time to assess the damage, including what it called the government's delay in responding. The association described the protest as extreme — justified in its reasons but less so in how it was conducted — and noted that haulage associations themselves had condemned it. Beyond the inconvenience to citizens, it said, agricultural businesses suffered too, especially producers of perishable goods, whose stock was left standing and in some cases ended up as waste. Federconsumatori said the grievances over fuel costs concern everyone, since higher production and transport costs push up consumer prices. But it rejected open-ended protests that brought half of Italy to a standstill and said it was unacceptable for the demonstrations to become a pretext for further speculation. It called on the Guardia di Finanza and the Antitrust authority to check that unjustified price increases were not taking place during the shortage.
A European refining problem behind the pump
The cost pressure has a wider context. Unem, analysing International Energy Agency data, found that between March and September 2026 European diesel carried an average premium of more than 7 euro cents per litre over the US market, with peaks of up to 13 cents. Applied to estimated consumption in the EU and the UK over the same period, that differential produced an additional cost of €11 billion, of which more than €9 billion fell on the EU alone. Compared with Singapore quotations the European cost was also higher, though the gap was narrower, implying an overall impact estimated at about €1.2 billion.
Jet fuel shows a similar pattern. Over the same months European quotations averaged about 8 cents per litre above the US and 6 cents above Singapore. On estimated EU and UK consumption, the US differential adds roughly €4 billion in extra cost, falling to about €3 billion in the comparison with Singapore. Unem attributes the situation to reduced European refining capacity, which leaves the continent more exposed to international tensions and to higher costs for essential products such as diesel and jet fuel that Europe must import.
The decree's approval does not by itself end the standstill. Il Sole 24 ORE reported that haulage associations welcomed the decree and said dialogue should continue on 27 October. Corriere della Sera reported that diesel at motorway service stations has reached €2.30. What to watch is whether the promised support reaches businesses quickly enough to persuade remaining pickets to stand down before that next round of talks.
