“Italy is very worried about the impact on inflation because of the inefficient energy mix we have,” said one Italian official, who was granted anonymity to speak openly. For that reason, the official added, it’s “better to bring forward actions to avoid inflation … and you cannot spend money in a pre-electoral year.”
Italy wants a “unified” response given its “strong industry,” said Raffaele Nevi, a senior lawmaker in Forza Italia, a center-right party in Meloni’s coalition that supports Rome’s stance.
Nevi sent POLITICO a statement in which he emphasized that measures should be coordinated across borders to avoid “imbalances” that would arise if EU countries with varying levels of financial firepower responded to the crisis individually.
A number of other countries are also waiting on the Commission to unveil concrete proposals, either at a coming summit of energy ministers next Monday or at a summit of European leaders later this month, according to three EU diplomats and one senior ministerial official in Slovenia.
That puts the ball squarely in the Commission’s court — and represents a subtle dig at the wait-and-see approach the EU executive has emphasized thus far.
“It’s not 10-year plans that will work” but short-term measures, said the Slovenian official, while acknowledging that the EU’s slow decision-making process makes agreement on such measures “very difficult.”