In a statement issued following the EU competitiveness summit held in Alden Biesen in Belgium on February 12, Antonio Gozzi, president of the Italian steel producers association Federacciai and of Interconnector Energy Italia, welcomed the opening of a political debate in Brussels on the critical issues regarding the EU ETS, reportedly prompted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s intervention.
On February 12, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that the EU should be open to revising or postponing parts of the ETS framework, as previously reported by SteelOrbis. “The discussion launched by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the European level on how the ETS system works marks an important step. For the first time, its criticalities have been clearly placed at the centre of the political debate in Brussels and, according to what has been reported by the press, several countries are showing interest in this approach,” Gozzi said.
In this context, the Federacciai president pointed to the specific features of Italy’s power generation mix, stressing that, unlike much of Europe, natural gas is Italy’s main technology for electricity production. In his view, this structural element, combined with the current application of the ETS, has contributed to keeping Italian electricity prices among the highest in Europe for too long, with particularly negative consequences for energy-intensive consumers, who are fully exposed to what he described as an unsustainable price gap compared to French and German energy-intensive companies.
Gozzi added that this situation has forced the Italian government to introduce protection tools for energy-intensive industries, reiterating the need for close and continuous monitoring of the dossier now that, in his words, “the issue is formally open at the EU level”. “It will be essential to follow the dossier with continuity and attention, in the interest of the country’s competitiveness and the coherence of European energy policies,” he concluded.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, in a recent commentary Gozzi criticised the current EU environmental policy framework and called for a radical review of key regulatory instruments - starting from the ETS - to prevent “industrial desertification” and safeguard the competitiveness of Europe’s manufacturing base.