By Giampietro Vianello TheLocal
Italy’s competition watchdog seeks EU intervention over ‘sky-high’ airfares
Italy鈥檚 antitrust authority (AGCM) said on Thursday it had asked the European Commission to investigate the “sky-high” cost of tickets to Italy’s major islands, Sicily and Sardinia, according to news agency Ansa.
Fares for domestic flights between mainland Italy and the two islands soared to a record 鈧400 for a return ticket in July 2024 – a 20 percent increase on 2023 fares.
The AGCM said it was calling on the EU to guarantee greater transparency in pricing algorithms on routes to Sicily and Sardinia to allow passengers to make fare comparisons more easily.
The fact that most airlines impose additional charges for services such as seat selection and checked baggage made it difficult for customers to compare prices, it added.
The AGCM has conducted multiple investigations over the past few years into the pricing of flights connecting Sicily and Sardinia with the Italian mainland, accusing budget airlines including Ryanair of abusing their dominant market position to price-gouge during peak travel periods.
Italy’s right-wing coalition government announced plans to cap the price of domestic flights to Italy’s islands in August 2023, only to quietly shelve the idea a month later following an industry backlash led by Ryanair.
In recent years, the regional governments of Sicily and Sardinia have launched initiatives to partially reimburse residents for expensive flights.
Italy to require licence plates for e-scooters
Electric scooters in Italy will soon be required to have a licence plate as part of a transport ministry decree enforcing a 2024 reform of the country’s Highway Code, Ansa reported on Thursday.
The plate will reportedly take the form of a plastic sticker with three letters and three numbers attached either to the scooter’s rear fender or front steering column.
The registration will be linked to the scooter’s owner, rather than the vehicle itself.
The new Highway Code, approved by parliament last November, also requires e-scooter users to wear a helmet and get third-party driver insurance.
Transport Minister and Deputy PM Matteo Salvini said at the time that the reform鈥檚 goal was to sharply reduce the number of fatal accidents on Italian roads, calling the 鈥渙ver 3,000 road deaths鈥 recorded every year 鈥渁n unacceptable tragedy鈥.
The transport ministry’s decree is set to come into effect in two weeks’ time.
Italy says Russia could pose military threat to NATO 鈥榳ithin five years鈥
Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday that Russia could soon pose a military threat to NATO member states, according to Italian media reports.
Allies have 鈥渟hared concerns about the growing threat from Russia,鈥 Crosetto said, warning that Moscow 鈥渃ould acquire the military capacity to threaten the territory of the Alliance within five years”.
鈥淭here are no signs of conversion of Russian military production to civilian purposes, not even in the event of a ceasefire” in the war in Ukraine, he added.
The minister also said that Russian domestic support for the Ukraine war has remained intact, noting that Moscow lost 200,000 soldiers in the first six months of this year, yet 鈥渕anaged to mobilise another 300,000鈥 without any 鈥渆rosion of national consensus”.
NATO members last week agreed to increase defence and security spending to five percent of their GDP by 2035, following months of pressure from US President Donald Trump.
Crosetto said Rome had already made some provisions in the budget to meet the target, stressing that the measures would not divert public resources from the national healthcare system or pensions.