Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
SYRACUSE, 17 October 2026 – “Diesel is piling pressure on business costs, margins are being squeezed and the risk is that the same groups always end up footing the bill: farmers, hauliers, cooperatives, food distributors and, ultimately, families.” This is the stark warning issued by Paolo Campisi, provincial director of the Italian Union of Cooperatives (UnCoop) in Syracuse, in the face of the emergency triggered by soaring fuel costs in the strategic supply chains of the Syracuse economy.
The impact of the price hikes is hitting the local production chain critically, creating extreme tension across the entire productive sector of south-eastern Sicily.
“Cooperatives are the hive of the territory, but they risk not surviving”
In his remarks, Campisi emphasised the vulnerability of local businesses in the face of an unsustainable energy and logistics crisis:
“Cooperative businesses represent the hive of the local economy and of south-eastern Syracuse province. But even the hardest-working hive, if continually impoverished, risks not surviving. We cannot expect our businesses to keep providing essential services while fuel devours resources and competitiveness,” said the provincial director of UnCoop.
Campisi also expressed full solidarity with the workers and economic operators currently protesting: “These protests are not mere expressions of discontent, but a sign of distress that deserves to be heard. When those who till the land can no longer afford the costs, the problem concerns the economic and social stability of the entire province.”
Official request: an operational crisis meeting at the Prefecture
To avert the collapse of businesses and job losses, the Italian Union of Cooperatives has formally requested the urgent convening of a provincial crisis meeting at the Prefecture of Syracuse or, alternatively, at the Free association of municipalities (the former province):
- 360-degree dialogue: Immediate involvement of cooperative organisations, agricultural associations, the haulage sector and food distribution.
- Concrete goals: Defining extraordinary support measures to advocate with the Region of Sicily and the national government.
- No empty gestures: “We are not asking for institutional photo opportunities or empty rituals. We want an operational meeting, with verifiable proposals and firm deadlines. The cost of inaction risks becoming higher than that of fuel,” Campisi pressed.
Direct appeal to institutional leaders
The Syracuse supply chain – which links agricultural production, processing, logistics and retail – relies on deep interdependence: a halt in one sector risks breaking the entire production chain.
“To the prefect and the leaders of the Free association of municipalities, we ask for an immediate signal before difficulties turn into closures and redundancies. We do not want to reach the point of counting the businesses that have shut their doors. Syracuse does not need statements of circumstance: it needs answers now,” Campisi concluded.
