(Adnkronos) – Italy’s government will unveil “a plan and a proposal” to allocate “13-14 billion euros” to “energy-related” measures, using the greater fiscal flexibility granted last month to European Union countries by the bloc’s executive, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday.
“We will present to Parliament a plan and a proposal,” Tajani told RTL 102.5 radio.
“We will see if we can take any measures relating to the cost of petrol and gas,” he said.
“What we have secured from Brussels is certainly a significant development and will enable us to take action on energy issues. But looking to the future, we must become increasingly self-sufficient, and the government has decided to focus on nuclear power, ” Tajani said.
Italy pushed strongly for the European Commission to allow EU governments fiscal leeway for spending to cushion the effects of higher energy costs resulting from the US-Israel war against Iran, which has sparked a widening Mideast conflict.
In a compromise, the European Commission decided in June allow EU countries to use 0.3% of GDP, out of the up to 1.5% of GDP of extra leeway it granted EU countries in March last year to boost annual defence spending through 2028 due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The 0.3% of the up to 1.5% of GDP extra leeway from the European Commission is to pay for investments to aid the transition from fossil fuels to green energy.
