The transition to electric cars will jeopardize some 73,000 jobs in Italy, several unions and a employers’ organization warned on Thursday, urging the government to begin talks on measures to support the car industry, Reuters reports.

Analysts say Italy’s auto industry could be hit harder than in other countries due to the relatively small size of its companies and the amount of investment needed to meet the targets set in the EU’s “Fit-For-55” climate plan, including the elimination of cars with internal combustion engines by 2035.

“If this plan is not accompanied by government intervention, it could lead to the loss of approximately 73,000 jobs in Italy, of which 63,000 in the period 2025-2030,” the Federmeccanica employers’ association and the FIM, FIOM and UILM unions said in a joint statement, according to Agerpres.

The signatories point out that car production in Italy fell from more than 1.8 million units in 1997 to 700,000 units last year, of which less than 500,000 were cars.

“We need to get back to producing about 1.5 million units a year,” said FIOM union leader Francesca Re David.

According to official figures, the Italian car industry has 278,000 direct and indirect employees and is responsible for about 6% of Gross Domestic Product.

Earlier this week, Italian Industry Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti announced that in the coming weeks he will present a set of proposals for incentives to support the Italian car industry.

The unions are also calling on the Rome government to reach a final agreement with the Stellantis Group, Italy’s largest carmaker, to build a battery plant to supply production of electrified vehicles in Italy.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said last year that the Franco-Italian group would build one of its European battery plants in Termoli, central Italy, but so far no final agreement had been signed with Rome.