Meloni not backing down as gas-station strike confirmed

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 23 - Premier Giorgia Meloni said Monday that her government has no intention of backing down on a decree designed to boost fuel-price transparency that has angered Italy's gas-station operations and led them to call a 48-hour strike for Wednesday and Thursday.
    The decree includes an obligation for gas stations to give the national average price for petrol and diesel alongside their own prices in a bid to stop speculative hikes, with fines for those that do not comply.
    The gas-station associations said they were striking to protest at being hit with a "wave of mud" over high prices after the government ended a reduction in fuel duties at the turn of the year.
    "We called them (the gas-station associations) twice for talks," Meloni said during a visit to Algiers.
    "The government has never conceived measures to point the finger at gas-station operators but to recognise the value of the many honest ones.
    "The average showed that prices were not sky high. They were very few speculative hikes.
    "We couldn't go back on this measure, which is a good one.
    Publishing the average price is sensible.
    "No one wants to hit this group". (ANSA).