Italy, Germany and Belgium call a pre‑summit on simplification and high energy prices ahead of the European Council

Brussels -Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever have convened a pre-summit of EU leaders for today (10 March), ahead of the European Council on 19 March, to discuss bureaucratic simplification and energy price containment. According to European diplomatic sources, the meeting will take place via videoconference, and the number of heads of state and government present is expected to be “in double digits,” around a dozen.

Cutting red tape has long been one of the EU’s main priorities, with Italy, Germany, and Belgium placing particular emphasis on this issue. On 12 February, ahead of the informal European Council meeting in Alden Biesen, Belgium, the three countries organised a meeting to discuss bureaucratic streamlining and competitiveness. The issue of high energy prices, on the other hand, was added to today’s video conference agenda as an “emergency” item. The recent military escalation in the Middle East and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic route for oil trade, have already had serious consequences for energy supplies throughout the West: yesterday, the price of Brent crude oil soared past the 100 dollar per barrel threshold for the first time since the end of 2022.

Rumours are already circulating about possible solutions designed to cushion the price increase and ensure a continuous supply of energy. According to the Financial Times, the G7 finance ministers (the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and Italy) reportedly discussed yesterday the possibility of using strategic oil reserves to avoid an inflationary shock that could affect the global economic system. This would be an emergency measure: it was last used after the outbreak of civil war in Libya in 2011. Another hypothesis circulating among major European newspapers is a price cap on the main energy sources.

Meloni and Merz speak the same language on numerous issues announced at the 23 January Italian-German summit. On that occasion, Rome and Berlin supported reducing bureaucracy to increase European competitiveness, shared a tougher approach to irregular migration, and, in foreign policy, demonstrated their desire to adopt a less muscular approach than French President Emmanuel Macron towards Trump’s impulsive decisions on tariffs and Greenland.