High diesel prices and lorries: 15 million people in Sicily are at a standstill – but applications close at the end of the month
The notice regarding compensation under Regional Law 13/2026 has not been published: the opinion of the ARS committees is still pending. Fiap is calling for the committees to be convened and for the 30 November deadline to be extended. The EU framework on state aid expires at the end of the year
A diesel subsidy payable from March to December, with applications to be submitted by 30 November. With less than a month to go until that date, however, Sicilian road haulage companies have yet to receive a call for applications to which they can respond. This has been highlighted by Fiap, the Italian Federation of Professional Road Hauliers, which is calling for the release of the 15 million allocated to the sector (Article 16 of Regional Law 13 of 28 May 2026).
The missing opinion
The legislation allocates 30 million to tackle high fuel prices (15 for contract haulage, 10 for agriculture, 5 for fisheries) and defers implementation to departmental decrees adopted in agreement with the Regional Minister for the Economy, ‘subject to the opinion of the relevant legislative committees’ of the Regional Assembly. This is the missing step. According to the Federation, the draft inter-departmental decree is ready, but is awaiting the opinion of the Second Committee on the Budget and the Fourth Committee on the Environment, Territory and Mobility, whose meetings have not yet been scheduled.
How the grant works
The agreement on the text had been announced by the Region on 25 September. The subsidy covers 70 per cent of the additional cost of diesel purchased between 1 March and 31 December, calculated as the difference between the price paid and the national average for February 2026. An initial amount of up to 50,000 euros per business falls under the scheme referred to in the regional notice as ‘super de minimis’; for the remainder, authorisation from Brussels is required.
Ten days before that note, on 16 September, the Councillor for Infrastructure, Alessandro Aricò, had given an assurance that the decree would be published ‘by the end of the week’. On 23 September, during a meeting with the associations, he added that the Region ‘intends to disburse the full 15 million’.
Two restrictions
The timetable is tightening on two fronts, and every week lost, the Federation notes, reduces the time available for the regional assessment and for European approval. The 30 November deadline was set by the Region, not by law, and falls before the end of the eligible expenditure period: for this reason, FIAP is calling for it to be realigned with the actual date on which the call for applications opens.
