EU: Meloni calls for clear answers on reducing energy costs at the next Council meeting
Merz and De Wever attend competitiveness group meeting
(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Ahead of the European Council meeting on 15 and 16 October, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever hosted a new videoconference meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the informal group on European competitiveness. This was announced by Palazzo Chigi in a statement. Alongside Italia, Germany and Belgium, the European Commission, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Hungary took part in the video conference. The discussion focused on three topics: energy costs, the simplification of European rules and international trade relations. According to the Palazzo Chigi statement, President Meloni emphasised the need for the next European Council to provide clear and concrete policy guidance, in particular to reduce energy costs and safeguard the competitiveness of European industry; in this context, she referred to the joint proposal drawn up with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, which contains proposals to ease the costs associated with the ETS system, support the most vulnerable industrial sectors, limit the impact of CO₂ costs on electricity prices, and further postpone the entry into force of ETS2.
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