On Thursday, Premier Giorgia Meloni called for urgent action from the European Union on the energy squeeze, saying Italy had a “sword of Damocles” hanging over its head due to soaring power bills.
“Unfortunately we have a sword of Damocles of expensive energy that is draining resources,” she told Italian mayors at the annual general meeting of the ANCI municipalities association in Bergamo.
“The interventions (to keep bills down) cost us about five billion euro a month: we are studying the proposals that have arrived, but if the European Commission fails to act it will be difficult to cope with these costs.”
The EC has proposed a gas price cap which many countries, including Italy say claim will not go far enough.
Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said on Thursday that the 15 EU countries calling for a gas-price cap, led by Italy, have decided to reject the European Commission’s proposed cap mechanism.
At the meeting Meloni also said that her government would seek to agree on changes to Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP, or PNNR in Italian) with the European Commission.
The NRRP seeks to make the Italian economy Greener and more modern thanks to a huge investment plan, based primarily on EU grants and low-interest loans worth close to 200 billion euro, and is conditional to Rome passing a series of reforms.
But Meloni, who was sworn in as Italy’s first premier last month, has been calling for the plan to be revised as it was created in a situation that has subsequently changed significantly following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We must verify the most suitable measures with which to update the NRRP with the EU,” Meloni told the assembly.
“As President (Sergio) Mattarella said, the NRRP is a date that Italy cannot miss.
“It is an extraordinary opportunity to modernise Italy.”
