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The petrol price boom is not only an Italian but a European issue. This was noted in the Commission’s weekly bulletin, which puts it to paper, as increases in excise duties, VAT and other indirect taxes earlier in the year have increased fuel costs at the pump almost everywhere.
And among the countries where growth has experienced a real boost, two stand out: Italy and France. That is, the countries that the European executive says will tax petrol and diesel more heavily.
In the bulletin, the Commission reminds that Luxembourg, Poland and Sweden have increased VAT and excise duties. Italy and Portugal have increased excise duties. Austria and Latvia levied other indirect taxes. France has stopped discounting the retail price and increasing excise duties on diesel. According to the most recent report by the European Commission, a stabilization has set in compared to the first week of the year.
The map of price increases in the EU
In fact, the clearest differences are between the price list of January 9th and that of December 26th, the last of 2022. In the EU Commission’s maps of tax collections on petrol and diesel, it is pointed out in detail that Paris applies taxes to 54% and 49%, Rome to 58% and 51%. The European average is 50.7% and 42.1%. In France, prices have increased from 1.65 euros per liter (petrol) and 1.74 (diesel) to 1.85 and 1.89 euros per liter. In Italy, according to the Brussels survey, the increase was 1.62 euros/liter for petrol and 1.69 for diesel to 1.81 and 1.87. Prices remained stable in Germany, where petrol fell slightly from 1.74 to 1.71 euros/litre and diesel rose by one cent from 1.81 to 1.82. In Spain they rose from 1.56 and 1.64 at the end of the year to 1.61 and 1.68 in the second survey in 2023.
Lithuania bucks the trend
The price increase spread like wildfire from Latvia to Bulgaria in just a few weeks. On the other hand and slightly decreasing prices in Lithuania: 1.49 for petrol and 1.65 for diesel in December, 1.48 and 1.64 in the last survey. And those who have set a national cap on fuel prices in recent months have not been spared the trend.