Italy approved emergency aid for truckers and farmers on October 22, in a bid to quell protests over diesel prices that interrupted deliveries of food staples in the country’s south.
An agreement has been reached with trucker associations and funds are already being reached, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said after the cabinet approved the aid.
“In some areas, a small number of people continue to block roads,” she said, adding that some truck drivers have threatened and slashed the tires of others. “This is not protest, it is intimidation, and we will not tolerate intimidation.”
The protests over a surge in fuel prices blocked roads and left consumers facing shortages of products ranging from pasta to buffalo mozzarella and fresh produce. Food suppliers warned that further acts could halt production, cause economic damages and empty store shelves.
A manager at pasta maker F. Divella SpA said some supermarket shelves in Puglia and Calabria were left bare, partly because shoppers rushed to stock up after seeing reports of shortages in the media. He said his company lost three days of production.
The blockades, which started earlier this week, caused estimated losses of tens of millions of euros for food retailers, prompting companies to consider store closures and temporary furloughs for workers, according to Carlo Buttarelli, president of industry group Federdistribuzione.
The impact has spread from fresh produce to other food categories, with retailers forced to discard large quantities of perishable goods stranded in warehouses. The industry is still collecting data on the financial damage, he said.
Meloni, who took office exactly four years ago, has sought to contain the crisis as she prepares for general elections next year. She has dedicated millions of euros of new aid to the transport and agriculture sectors, and called on the remaining protesters to allow the flow of products.
On the A1, which leads to the mozzarella center of Caserta, motorists were stuck in traffic near the city of Naples after truckers restricted access.
The unrest in the south runs parallel to a series of protests in the north over a range of grievances, which led to looting and rioting in Milan in recent days.
Earlier this week, Meloni announced measures aimed at stemming further violence amid concern over another round of demonstrations scheduled for the coming weekend.
In Milan, the government plans to deploy 500 military personnel until the end of the year. Protesters also plan to target Naples, Corriere reported.
