Thousands of truckers blocked Christmas holiday traffic in Italy. They were protesting against an increase in their pension contributions in next year's budget. David Willey reports from Rome:

It was an unusual form of transport strike. Several thousand truckers moved at a snail's pace on main highways and motorways in north and central Italy, causing long lines of traffic to build up behind them.

The protest only lasted for four hours, however, and by afternoon traffic was heavy because of the holiday, but normal for the season.

The trucks formed convoys

The truckers, mostly small transport firms employing one or two drivers, are angry about the failure of the government to meet their demands for concessions in next year's austerity budget. They, together with other self-employed workers, will have to pay higher pension contributions - although the government caved in on a proposal to increase the age at which they can draw their pensions by one year, from 57 to 58.

The Italian upper house of parliament has given final approval to next year's budget, which has been the subject of three months of sometimes acrimonious debate.

The government plans to raise an extra $15bn by raising taxes, half of them through an increase in VAT, and by cutting expenditure on health and pensions. The Italian Treasury is aiming to keep the public deficit within 2.8% of GDP next year - well within the parameters which will enable Italy to qualify for joining the single European currency.

The net result of the government's continuing austerity policies can be gauged by a continuing fall in inflation. Latest figures show inflation at an annual rate of only 1.5% - the lowest in two decades. The analysts are forecasting an early cut in the discount rate by Italy's central bank.
 

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