Meloni's match with the EU: snatch 'targeted' measures to lower energy prices

The generic openings on the forthcoming revision of the ETS, the CO2 emissions trading system, expected by the European Council meeting today in Brussels are not enough for Italia. The game that Giorgia Meloni is playing, in the aftermath of the decree of half a billion that cut excise duties on fuels by 25 cents, looks beyond: to the negotiation with the EU Commission to wrest "targeted and temporary measures" capable of correcting the distortions that the mechanism generates in our country, determining an impact on the price of electricity amplified compared to other member states.

Of Italy's specificity, based on the much stronger prominence of gas in the energy mix compared to other partners such as France and Germany, and the fact that thermoelectric power plants, which produce energy from fossil fuels, have to buy emission quotas at an extra cost that is then passed on along the chain to the end consumer, driving up their bills, Meloni spoke again late yesterday evening during a conversation at the Hotel Amigo bar with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who in turn was arriving from a working dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron. Palazzo Chigi's reasoning is simple: the EU executive must take into account the factors that transform the Ets for Italia into a tax that, according to Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, "comes to weigh over 7 billion on the total energy consumed". In the crosshairs is the price calculation mechanism, which is determined by the 'marginal price', i.e. the most expensive source used, often gas. In situations of peak source prices, such as the one we are currently experiencing due to the crisis in the Middle East and the Gulf, the burden on households and businesses becomes unbearable.

For this reason, the government expects the go-ahead from the Commission headed by Ursula von der Leyen for ad hoc measures that are able to affect the distorting elements, i.e. the free quotas that it is asking to be extended at least for energy-intensive industries, the volatility of the price of ETS quotas, a reduction of which is being called for (perhaps through the introduction of a cap) and, even more, the indirect application of ETS on renewables. While the ideal recipe, for Rome, would be a suspension of the Ets on thermoelectric power - on which, however, a minority of countries agree - the intention is to negotiate on other measures that would avoid the effects of the Ets on energy prices. It was Pichetto who suggested some of them: not only the use of energy surpluses, but also the defiscalisation or non-application of VAT on Ets, which is currently obliged by a European directive.

Meloni makes it a question of competitiveness, and she reiterated this morning in the exchange of views in the offices of the Italian delegation with Merz and Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever at which the second informal ad hoc summit meeting on 10 March after the Alden Biesen retreat was taken stock of. On the table were "possible initiatives to be taken swiftly to curb the price push on energy" and "priorities to be promoted jointly on simplification, the single market and investments". But on the request for a robust revision of the ETS, Italia finds itself alone with the Eastern countries (Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia), Croatia, Austria and Greece. Therefore, also by virtue of its pro-European line and the 'no' to Donald Trump on sending military ships to the Strait of Hormuz, it hopes for help from Brussels.

For the time being, in the letter sent to the heads of state and government before the Council, Von der Leyen anticipated that the Commission is working on a package of measures with the stated aim of reducing the pressure on households and businesses. Among the options under consideration are more flexibility on state aid, possible relief on electricity bills and an acceleration on renewables. In this package, the government hopes to obtain a few outstretched hands. As 'customised' as possible.