EU, Meloni: “Italy will not support climate law revision without a change of approach”

Rome – Ukraine, the Middle East, NATO, competitiveness, climate. The issues on the table at the European Council of 23 October are many, and on all of them, Giorgia Meloni promises a clear position from Italy.
Starting with the proposed revision of the European Climate Act, which would include a 90 per cent cut in emissions by 2040. Without a “change of approach”, Rome will not support it: the PM says so openly in her communications to Parliament. 

The change of course called for by Italy passes through three main areas, in which renewables “have a role in development but must be integrated in a balanced system, technologically equipped to contain emissions as much as possible,” she points out. The first is a change that provides for a new intermediate target to 2040, accompanied by “enabling conditions”, i.e. instruments that allow the targets to be reached without “compromising the European economy.” The second condition is that this change of approach ensures the full application of the principle of technology neutrality to all EU climate legislation, starting with the automotive and heavy industry sectors. The third point is that of resources. “Because no transition is really possible without allocating the appropriate resources”, recalls the PM. The new Multiannual Financial Framework will serve as a “fundamental test-bed” alongside progress towards the EU Capital Markets Union, which is essential to foster “the indispensable private investments needed to complement the public ones.” 

To support competitiveness, Italy, together with 18 other European countries, addressed a letter to Council President Ursula von der Leyen to accelerate regulatory simplification further. 

On defence, Rome has already begun a path of reinforcement, Meloni recalls, referring to the subsidised funding provided by Safe (Security Action for Europe), with the allocation of €14.9 billion. This allows, she reiterates, to “strengthen it without diverting a single euro from the other priorities that the government has given itself. With respect to the Union, the premier calls for making the flexibility of the Stability and Growth Pact permanent for the sector and makes it clear: all borders are relevant. Not only the eastern flank; therefore, ‘European readiness’ in defence must be developed at 360 degrees: “We cannot allow the southern flank to be lost sight of, the security of the Alliance’s external borders is indivisible. We must also be ready for the threats to our security brought about by the conflicts and instability in the Middle East, Libya, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa,” she stresses.

Rome’s position on Ukraine does not change: “It cannot change,” Meloni explains, “in the face of the civilian victims, of the images of cities, houses, electricity and gas storage stations systematically bombed by the Russians, with the sole and precise intent of making life impossible for the civilian population, which has been heroically resisting a large-scale conflict for almost four years. No disengagement then, responding to the controversy after Donald Trump’s re-sharing of a MAGA video, but support for the Ukrainian people “firm, determined, with the sole intention of achieving peace,” she points out. We will continue to work with the United States, she adds, to “define robust, credible security guarantees, effective in their deterrence capacity, for Kyiv and for all of us.” Deterrence for the premier must be based on the strength of the Ukrainian army, a political component (with an assistance mechanism modelled on Article 5 of the Atlantic Pact), and reassurance provided by the coalition of the willing. 

However, the USA cannot be excluded from the process and Moscow must be contained, the prime minister repeats, also because “when Putin provokes with drones over European skies, it is not Europe under attack, it is the Atlantic Alliance under attack, it is the West that is under attack.” The premier speaks of a ‘welding’ between Russia, China, and North Korea that would seek to strengthen influence in the Global South. Thus, “it is not Europe that they are trying to isolate, it is the West that they are trying to isolate.” The Brussels-Washington link must be ‘strengthened’ and she insists: “All those who try to say ‘decide whether to be with Europe or the United States’ are making a mistake, because I want to be with the West by strengthening the role of Europe and Italy within the West.”