Italy before its monsters: energy crisis and stratospheric debt

Shortly after landing at the Palazzo Chigi (headquarters of the Italian Government), those who took up the administration Italy They will need to take care of some urgent files. Outgoing prime minister Mario Draghi himself has already warned. For Italy, “the challenges are many and not easy to solve,” he said in an August speech, describing the energy crisis as one of them. Economist Mario La Torre, an academic at the Sapienza University of Rome, sees this clearly. “The country trembling because of its high dependence on imported oil and gas, energy crisis It will undoubtedly be a priority issue.” The problem is that even Draghi’s maneuvers, which reduced Italy’s dependence on Russian gas from 40% to 18% in a record time this year, did not hinder US oil production. Price:%s in the country, including those of staple foods.

Energy, selector switch

this election campaign He made that clear in Sunday’s elections as well. Consequences of the price boom for citizens Energy became a common topic at rallies of the far-right camp Giorgia Melony and center left Enrico Letta. And, according to various analysts, the proposed solutions were not far apart (basically diversifying suppliers and investing in regasifiers). Still, there are also some differences on paper. Letta insisted on continuity with the European Green Deal policies, while Meloni criticizes it (“this is climate fundamentalism,” he reassured), while also suggesting that he proposes to explore gas fields in the Adriatic. Croatia is already doing it and is separating itself from the current Italian legislation protecting the ecosystem in that sea.

Matteo Salvini, the leader of the union and an ally of Meloni, said that the “European will” that points to the protection of “at least 30% of territorial waters” should be compared. If it does, something that is a harbinger of a particular controversy. environmentalists and most of the scientific community.

battered finance

In reality, beyond what can be achieved, the reality is that, despite Draghi’s reforms, the energy crisis is reaching Italy while the country is still suffering from its usual structural problems. finance. In particular: poor growth for twenty years and Public debt high and rising. Notably, Italian debt jumped from 134 percent to 155 percent. GDP It fell to 150% between 2019 and 2020 and with Draghi in 2021. However, its value is still very high: 2,700,000 million euros compared to a GDP of around 1,700,000 million euros, Bank of Italy and the national statistics center Istat. Add to this that production has also fallen this year (-1.4% according to partial data from Istat) and even wealthy Italian agriculture has been hit. drought and great heat wave from this summer. In this panorama, the new Government will have to submit and submit. Brussels budget law in the coming weeks.

It’s a separate issue, though related. recovery funds Europeans allocated to Italy: approximately €200,000 million between loans and non-refundable aid. Currently, Italy has received the first payment of approximately 21,000 million European plans that have achieved the 51 planned targets in 2021, and in June Draghi Manager also requested the payment of the second payment (21,000 million more). 45 more targets. However, according to calculations by the economic daily ‘Il Sole 24 Ore’, Italy still has 55 more targets to meet for the rest of the year. For this reason, it is considered that the new government’s room for maneuver will be extremely limited. reforms Agreement has already been reached with Brussels (public administration, tax system and justice).

“The following questions may cause more conflicts: industrial policy and of course for migrationit is a workhorse for both Meloni and Salvini,” says La Torre. Pandemic also contributed to its growth. saving was stripped of citizenship. In 2021 alone, Italian families saved a record 320,000 million euros, according to data from the autonomous association of bank operators.