Italy, Belgium reject Commission’s energy agenda; Costa urges faster transition

Brussels – The details still need to be worked out, but the path forward for energy security has been set out: “Speeding up our energy transition.” It is the President of the European Council, António Costa, who sums up the discussion among heads of state and government on this most sensitive and highly charged issue, as the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni rejects the ideas put forward to overcome the energy crisis triggered by the war in Iran: the proposals by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, are “a step forward but not enough,” she says bluntly, highlighting the complexity of the energy issue, which touches on several areas, first and foremost, that of public spending. 

“Fiscal space is not the same for everyone“, the Prime Minister notes, suggesting that the state of Italy’s public finances – a source of concern for the Italian government and its majority coalition – puts the country at a disadvantage compared to the strategy devised by the EU executive, particularly regarding the possibility of relaxing the rules on state aid. Meloni’s idea, on the other hand, is “a model similar to that of the SAFE program on defense spending,” to be applied to the energy market. New European loans, therefore. 

Italy is not the only country to express discontent and disappointment. Belgium, too, is struggling to accept what von der Leyen has put on the table: the Belgian Prime Minister, Bart De Wever, would have liked more radical revisions to the Emissions Trading System (ETS), the EU’s main carbon taxation system. He also criticizes the absence of a Europe-wide tax on windfall profits. “It’s not on the cards, and I think that’s a shame.” 

Given its informal nature, the European Council summit in Nicosia is not expected to produce concrete results; therefore, the lack of agreement on a crisis plan should not be a cause for concern.  However, there is one thing Costa wishes to make clear: “Looking ahead, there is only one strategic way forward for Europe…accelerating the deployment of homegrown, clean, affordable energy sources.” Forge ahead with the sustainability agenda and reduce fossil fuels to the bare minimum.