Bruno Bearzi comments on some of the issues during the Oil&nonOil interview, bringing the voice of his association, Figisc Confcommercio. The category has left several memos to the government on network reform and, according to Bruno Bearzi, he latter should be implemented above all in numerical terms because Italy has about 22,500 plants (in France there are about 11,000, in Germany 14,000 and in the United Kingdom 8,500). In our country, the average is around 1.3 million litres compared to 3.1 million in France and 3.5 in Germany and the United Kingdom. These are figures that make understand the efficiency of the network, which, in our case, does not exist. Bearzi reports how there are many plants that sell under half a million litres and, 30% of plants, do not reach the survival threshold in terms of marginality. Bearzi continues: «We need to understand how many of these plants are somehow washing machines of dirty money with organised crime infiltration. There is fiscal illegality and contractual illegality».
The association thinks that between 6 and 8 thousand low-payment facilities that do not comply with the Highway Code and were not closed in the last rationalisation, which produced few results in terms of closures, should be closed. For this to happen, moreover, resources are needed and the government does not like this request. In order to close plants, superstructures should be removed and underground structures reclaimed: pollutants can spread due to old constructions and cause environmental damage.
Bearzi also reports a willingness to formalise the franchising contract or the leasing of a business branch by achieving an all-round liberalisation and a fundamental change for the figure of the operator, who currently holds a VAT number but has no autonomy over the purchase price and the final price.
Studies have been submitted to the ministry and, according to Figisc, the facilities that currently exist, and will exist after the curtailment, should become mobility hubs. The near future will be based on hydrogen and will be the final approach for mobility. In the meantime, for heavy transport, biofuels are already being used and are part of the offer that will have to be present in these hubs. According to Bearzi, the filling stations spread throughout the territory take away parking spaces: to bring electricity with important kilowatts for fast recharging is reductive, it would be more appropriate for the motorist, regardless of the fuel, to find everything he needs at the service station.