Unlock Editor's Digest for free
FT editor Roula Khalaf has chosen her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Taxi drivers across Italy went on strike on Tuesday in response to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government, which is under intense pressure from angry consumers to increase the availability of taxis.
The strike comes after Industry Minister Adolfo Urso met with a delegation of executives from ride-hailing app Uber, which is backed by the powerful taxi driver lobby, which has so far managed to restrict the operations of the US-based company and other similar apps in Italy. This took place several weeks after the incident sparked outrage. .
“This fight is not just about defending the legitimate interests of taxi drivers,” said Nicola Di Giacobbe, national coordinator for Unica, the taxi drivers' unit of CGIL, one of Italy's three main unions.
He accused the government of “embracing the free market and the privatization of the sector” and vowed that drivers would resist “wild deregulation of the market that replaces public services with those managed by algorithms”. .
But the strike has infuriated Italians already infuriated by chronic shortages, which typically mean travellers arriving at train stations and airports find themselves lining up in long, slow queues for the next ride to complete their journey.
Several Italian cities are preparing to issue more taxi licenses for the first time in decades to ease the shortage, but the measures are seen as insufficient.
“This is a strike against consumers and is unacceptable from our point of view,” Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumers Union, said in a statement, complaining that Italy suffers from a “structural shortage” of taxi licenses. He called for “rational liberalization” of taxis. Sector.
Mr Donna warned that Italy's taxi “emergency situation” would worsen next summer's tourist season when millions of tourists arrive, adding to an already growing shortage. .
“We understand that taxi drivers are buying licenses at exorbitant prices and they have every interest in keeping the taxi fleet at the current level,” he said. said. “But we cannot ignore the interests of the people.”
Mr Meloni's three-party coalition, which attracted support from the powerful taxi lobby ahead of the 2022 general election, announced last August that cities could increase the number of licensed taxis operating within their city limits by up to 20% through an expedited process. The decision was made to approve.
The move followed a summer of protests in which foreign tourists were left stranded for hours in the intense heat waiting for taxis, sparking an embarrassing uproar on social media over their plight.
Italy's competition authority said in March that cities needed to increase their taxi fleets beyond the government-mandated 20 percent to “improve the efficiency and quality” of the service for consumers.
But in recent months, cities seeking to issue new licenses have come under pressure from taxi unions seeking a say in exactly how many new licenses to issue and at what price. continues to be exposed.
