She also said the new RepowerEu plan would give a strong impetus to Italy's new 'Mattei Plan' on energy.
As Europe looks to reconfigure its energy policy and takes steps to wean itself off its long-time dependency on Russian gas, Italy is planning a similar strategy through its sector companies.
During the 1950s, the late Enrico Mattei, who founded Italian oil major Eni, sought to support African countries’ development of their natural resources for two main reasons - to help the continent maximise its economic growth potential, but also, importantly, to facilitate Italy’s energy independence.
"The challenge of strengthening energy sovereignty requires a commitment on the part of all,” Meloni said.
“Today sees the start of an institutional process that will enable us to draw up and then implement a plan that will make Italy more sustainable from an energy point of view by increasing energy production from renewable sources, diversifying supply sources, and reducing consumption.”
The Premier was speaking at the steering committee on the huge EU-funded post-COVID National Resilience and Recovery Plan (NRRP) to start the debate on the Repower EU programme.
"The new plan will allow Italy to make a strong contribution to the realisation of the 'Mattei Plan' in order to consolidate the process of diversification of supplies towards a total elimination of Russian gas and to make Italy become the Mediterranean energy hub for the whole of Europe in a fruitful cooperation relationship especially with African countries,” she said.
ANSA
