The Council of Ministers has launched the fourth law decree on fuels. The measure extends the cut in excise duties on petrol, diesel, LPG, natural gas, HVO and biodiesel for the period from 23 May to 6 June 2026. While petrol will maintain a discount of around 5 cents per liter (unchanged compared to the past), diesel will suffer a cut of around 10 cents per litre, compared to 20 previously.
The objective declared by the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti is to act with a “buffer intervention”, waiting for the negotiation with Brussels on the safeguard clause for energy spending to be unblocked.
How the price at the pump changes
With the publication in the Official Journal of the decree passed yesterday by the Government, the discount on diesel excise duties is halved from 24.4 to 12.2 euro cents per litre, making a full tank of diesel cost 6.1 euros more. The calculations come from Codacons, which underlines how the reduction of the tax discount brings Italy back to the top in Europe for the most expensive diesel price.
According to the decree, excise duties pass:
- for diesel from 472.90 to 572.90 euros per thousand litres;
- for petrol the excise duty remains unchanged at 622.90 euros per thousand litres.
This means that from today the discount on diesel at the pump drops to 12.2 cents per litre, while it remains unchanged for petrol at 6.1 euro cents.
With this decision, the average price of self-service diesel on the national network will return to exceed 2 euros per litre, settling at 2.09 euros per litre, while on the motorway it will rise to an average of 2.18 euros/litre. In terms of spending, the reduction of the tax cut determines an increase of 6.1 euros per driver on a full tank of diesel.
Unc: “Motorists like chickens to be plucked”
The decision to reduce the excise duty cut on diesel shows that “this Government also considers motorists to be chickens to be plucked” says Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumers Union, commenting on the measure. In a note he states:
At 8am today the prices had not yet been adjusted, but tomorrow, in the hypothesis of constant industrial prices, diesel will rise to 2.187, while in the road network, if unlike Mimit we also consider Bolzano and Trento in the regional averages, it will break through 2.1 euros, going from 1.985 euros today to 2.107 euros per litre. A full tank of 50 liters will be paid 6 euros and 10 cents more.
Stop the trucking strike
On the same day of May 22, before the meeting of the Council of Ministers, a meeting was held at Palazzo Chigi between Prime Minister Meloni, the competent ministers and representatives of the road transport sector. The confrontation led to the suspension of the national strike proclaimed for the period 25-29 May.
Sergio Lo Monte, secretary of Unatras, leaving the meeting, stated:
We are satisfied, the conditions are in place for the suspension of the arrest.
The government has launched a package of ad hoc measures to save the sector. In addition to the cut in excise duties, the Council of Ministers approved a 300 million euro tax credit for road transport (of which an additional 200 million compared to the 100 already allocated in March). The deadline for compensation of quarterly excise duties is also reduced from 60 to 30 days, guaranteeing immediate liquidity for businesses.
