Italy is preparing to allocate another 8 billion against the high-energy cost, after having already repeatedly resorted to multi-billion dollar public contributions to alleviate the electricity and gas bills. But efforts of this kind on the part of European states risk having diminishing effectiveness, and perhaps, in the long run, could even be harmful, according to a warning from the Forum Energii study center.
According to the calculations of this think-tank, European countries as a whole have already allocated 280 billion euros to alleviate the increase in the price of energy on businesses and consumers, and all governments (including that of Italy, where the electoral campaign is in progress) are subjected to continuous requests for further support from the public purse. However, in the face of endlessly growing demands, in parallel with the limitless boom in gas prices, the time must come to stop, say the analysts of Forum Energii, and this does not only concern Italy, but everyone. the countries of the continent: “Programs such as the reduction of taxes on methane in Germany” warns Joanna Mackowiak-Pandera, who is president of Forum Energii “or the subsidy for domestic heating in Poland, without accompanying them to energy efficiency constraints, will have the effect of sustaining demand, rather than holding it back. And this is like trying to put out the fire with petrol ».
Meanwhile, the German government is evaluating a measure that is also required in Italy by various political forces, that is to decouple the price of methane and electricity to prevent them from contaminating each other with their respective increases. The proposal is being examined by the Minister of Energy, the “green” Robert Habeck. Before the invasion of Ukraine, Germany imported 55% of the gas it consumed from Russia, while it has now fallen to 15%, thanks to additional imports from Norway and the Netherlands.