Diesel and petrol, here's how the excise duty discount changes as of 2 May

There is a change of register. The third fuel rebate, approved in the Council of Ministers, will not be identical for diesel and petrol. Only for diesel, in fact, it is an extension: the cut in excise duties of 20 cents per litre (which become 24.4 cents per litre due to the addition of VAT) is confirmed. For green fuel, on the other hand, the overall reduction will be 6.1 cents per litre.

Both interventions will start at midnight between 1 and 2 May, as the previous intervention also includes Labour Day. The deadline, on the other hand, is three weeks later (i.e. until 23 May), unless further extensions are granted, which, given the trend in oil prices, will be very likely.

The issue will always be that of coverage. The government's efforts have also been amplified because the hunt for resources took place in parallel with the hunt for resources to finance the Housing Plan and the Labour Decree. For the cut that has just been approved, initial coverage is provided by the Antitrust sanctions. The next millions will come from the 'mobile excise' mechanism and thus from the extra VAT revenue, which can only be calculated from next week.

The aim is to try to implement the excise cut with just that extra revenue. The first two times it was not possible, but this time the intervention is less costly because it is aimed almost exclusively at diesel.

But how come? The answer comes directly from the price lists at the petrol stations: with the 24.4 cents per litre cut in force today - which costs almost half a billion every twenty days - diesel costs more than EUR 2.050 per litre throughout Italy. Petrol, on the other hand, less than 1.750 euro per litre. "An obvious disproportion," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told a press conference.