Giada Oricchio January 23, 2023
Stefano Bonaccini, governor of the Emilia-Romagna region and candidate for the PD secretariat after Enrico Letta, explained that petrol costs more in Italy than in the rest of Europe. During an interview with Lucia Annunziata, presenter of the program “Half an hour more” on Rai3, Bonaccini criticized the Meloni government for not renewing the reduction in excise duties on fuel from January 1, 2023. A decision that, according to him, made petrol in Italy the “most expensive in Europe”.
It is true? It is wrong? According to the fact check of the site www.pagellapolitica.it, the exponent exaggerated. As for the cost of petrol in Europe, based on the most recent data from the European Commission, the portal confirmed that “on 16 Low. Petrol was more expensive in three EU Member States: in France and Greece at 1.86 euros per liter and in Finland at 1.87 euros per liter.” The same applies to diesel: “On January 16, a liter of diesel cost on average in Italy 1.86 euros, the fifth highest price, behind France (1.88 euros), Denmark (1.89 euros), Finland (2.06 euros) and Sweden (2.16 euros)”.
The portal confirms that the “Taxes and Excise” item has a strong impact on final prices: “After the end of the reduction in excise duty on fuel, Italy is again among the European countries with the highest tax burden per liter of petrol and diesel. On January 16, Italy taxed 58 percent of a liter of petrol, the highest rate in the EU along with Greece and Finland, with a European average of 50.6 percent. For a liter of diesel the percentage was 51 per cent, the second highest percentage behind Malta’s 54 per cent, with a European average of 42.4 per cent.”
This means that Italy has the fourth highest price in the EU for a liter of petrol and the fifth highest for a liter of diesel. The tax weight on a liter of petrol in Italy is the highest in the EU and that on a liter of diesel the second highest.