Energy: Meloni’s appeal to businesses. Babiš steps up pressure on the ETS
In *La Repubblica*, the Czech Prime Minister thanks Eni, IP and Q8 and appeals to others: “Let’s all lend a hand.” On the Regeni case: “Cutting off ties with Egypt won’t help.”
Key points
Joint pressure on the EU for a radical reform of the ETS mechanism and a shift towards competitiveness. Giorgia Meloni joins forces with the Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. On an official visit to Prague, accompanied by the Minister for the Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti, the Prime Minister signs the Italia–Czech Republic Action Plan 2026–2030 and focuses on the most pressing issue: energy.
Six proposals to the EU for reforming the ETS
Together with Babiš, she has set out six practical proposals on the ETS to be discussed at the European Council in mid-October. “We are calling for the sectors most exposed to international competition to be protected by adjusting the mechanisms for allocating ETS allowances,” explains Meloni, “ to limit the pass-through of carbon costs to electricity prices, to strengthen transparency and monitoring of the ETS allowance market, and to postpone the entry into force of ETS2, which also risks having a negative impact on a system that, at present, needs above all to be deregulated.”
The appeal against high energy prices
Meloni shares his concerns about Europe with his Czech ‘friend’: ‘We are both determined to avert the very real risk that Europe will no longer be able to produce, invest or make an impact on global markets’. There are three key issues on which the leaders are focusing: competitiveness, energy and the ETS, and immigration. On the day that Q8, following Eni and IP, announced a price cap on fuel and ‘the issue is spreading to utility bills’, as she observed, the Prime Minister expressed her gratitude and explained the moral suasion exerted on the companies: ‘The Government is appealing to the main economic players in Italia to lend a hand to households and businesses during this particularly complex phase, in which international crises – which we did not cause, she is keen to emphasise – are having a significant impact on household budgets’.
Regeni and relations with Egypt
But the controversy sparked in Italia by the remarks of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, has also reached Prague, following the verdict in the Regeni case which sentenced three Egyptian secret service agents to ten years’ imprisonment for kidnapping – “Three people have been convicted, not Egypt”. Meloni seeks a balanced approach. First, she points out that the Italian state is a civil party in the trial, reiterates her solidarity with the researcher’s family and assures them that their quest for truth and justice “is also ours”. Then, however, she warns: in this quest, “we have also used political and diplomatic channels. I fear that by closing those channels, we are moving further away from our objectives rather than closer to them’.
Criticism of Tajani’s attack
This is a response to those in the opposition who accuse Tajani and the Government of ‘prioritising business dealings with Egypt and oil over international law and justice’. This is the view of Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni of AVS, but others are also taking a hard line with the Foreign Minister. ‘He’s now a meme, not a minister,’ attacks Matteo Renzi (IV). “No one can deny the Al-Sisi regime’s responsibility any longer,” thunders the Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein, who presses on: “It is now the Government’s duty to ensure that the ruling is upheld and enforced.”
