{"id":456467,"date":"2026-06-11T17:45:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/11\/pierrakakis-cambia-linea-si-alla-flessibilita-fiscale-per-rispondere-alla-crisi-energetica\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T19:03:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T17:03:30","slug":"pierrakakis-changes-tack-yes-to-fiscal-flexibility-to-tackle-the-energy-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/11\/pierrakakis-changes-tack-yes-to-fiscal-flexibility-to-tackle-the-energy-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Pierrakakis changes tack: “Yes to fiscal flexibility to tackle the energy crisis”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 \u201cAffordable and sustainable energy is the raw material of European competitiveness<\/strong>.\u201d With these words, spoken before attending today\u2019s (11 June) Eurogroup meeting, the group\u2019s chair, Kyriakos Pierrakakis<\/strong>, gave his blessing to the <\/strong>European Commission\u2019s recent proposal to extend the exemption from budgetary constraints to the energy sector<\/strong> measures<\/strong> set out in the Stability Pact<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More specifically, the new flexibility mechanism is based on the so-called national safeguard clause<\/a> provided for the defence sector. Under the national escape clause, Member States are authorised to run a deficit in excess of the limits set by the Pact, up to 1.5 per cent of national GDP per year for four years<\/strong>. The only condition is that these investments must be dedicated to defence programmes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the face of the worsening energy crisis caused by the war in Iran, on 3 June, the European Commissioner for the Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis<\/strong>, announced the extension of this clause to the energy sector<\/strong>. Governments will therefore be able to allocate 0.3 per cent of the 1.5 per cent set by the national escape clause to investments aimed at strengthening their energy infrastructure<\/strong>, accelerating the transition to clean energy sources and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. The proposal welcomes, albeit very limitedly, a request by Giorgia Meloni\u2019s Italian government<\/a> in mid-May.<\/p>\n

At the previous Eurogroup meeting in early May<\/a>, Pierrakakis had expressed scepticism<\/strong> regarding the possibility of the EU executive granting further exemptions from the fiscal rules. \u201cAid must be targeted, temporary, and in line with agreed fiscal rules<\/strong>,\u201d he had warned.<\/p>\n

Yet, things now seem to have changed<\/strong> for the Greek Finance Minister. \u201cThe Commission\u2019s proposal shows that we have now reached the stage where further flexibility is needed<\/strong>,\u201d he said to justify his U-turn. According to Pierrakakis, the mechanism envisaged by the Berlaymont is \u201cfully justified<\/strong>\u201d because it allows for flexibility that simply adds to that already provided for defence. Above all, concluded the Eurogroup President, this is a <\/strong>\u201chighly targeted flexibility<\/strong>, which directly addresses our infrastructure needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Announcing the attendance of the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva<\/strong>, at today\u2019s meeting, Pierrakakis took the opportunity to point out that \u201cthe IMF\u2019s recent assessment of EU policies states that, thanks to energy investments made since 2022, the impact of the Middle East crisis has been reduced by 12 per cent<\/strong>.\u201d According to the Greek politician, \u201cthis factor also played a role in the Commission\u2019s proposal to allow for greater flexibility<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

During today\u2019s meeting, in addition to Pierrakakis, the German Finance Minister, Lars Klingbeil<\/strong>, also joined the ranks of those who have come round to the idea of the Berlaymont\u2019s proposed exemption. Germany is traditionally one of the most uncompromising Member States when it comes to compliance with EU budget rules, but Klingbeil today described the German position as a \u201cconstructive dialogue<\/strong>.\u201d While pointing out that he does not yet have \u201ca final assessment\u201d of the Commission\u2019s proposals, Klingbeil confirmed that Germany is ready to evaluate the concrete plan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Nordic countries, however, are not backing down from their role as <\/strong>“austerity hawks<\/strong>“. Speaking to journalists, the Finnish Minister of Finance, Riikka Purra<\/strong>, emphasised that \u201cwhile energy security may be a strategic priority, the new exemption must not undermine the credibility of the European fiscal framework<\/strong>.\u201d Furthermore, according to the Scandinavian official, \u201cto truly combat high energy prices, we must accelerate the green transition and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

A compromise between these positions, which do not yet fully align, will have to be reached within the EU Council<\/strong>. In all likelihood, the Berlaymont\u2019s proposal will be discussed and voted on in the coming months, by which time the Cypriot government will have already handed over the six-month presidency of the body representing the Member States to Ireland<\/strong>. Aware of the future role of mediator that awaits him, Dublin\u2019s Finance Minister, Simon Harris<\/strong>, is urging caution. \u201cI am reluctant to express a national position, as Ireland will have to play an impartial role, listening to all parties and seeking to find common ground<\/strong>,\u201d he said on the sidelines of today\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to the Commission\u2019s recent proposal to extend the national defence safeguard clause to the energy sector, the President of the Eurogroup stated that \u201cwe have now reached the stage where further flexibility is needed\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7899,"featured_media":456409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[31260,34422,33414,33392,25994,33066,30651,25884],"class_list":["post-456467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-clausola-di-salvaguardia-nazionale","tag-crisi-energetica","tag-energia","tag-eurogroup-en","tag-kyriakos-pierrakakis","tag-lars-klingbeil-en","tag-pact-of-stability-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7899"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456468,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456467\/revisions\/456468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}