Energy crisis can also be an opportunity – Meloni – English

(ANSA) – ROME, OCT 10 – The energy crisis triggered by the
the war in Ukraine can be an opportunity for Italy to position
itself as Europe’s energy supply hub, Premier Giorgia Meloni
said on Tuesday.

   
“Today the energy issue is strategic, and it will certainly
become increasingly so,” said Meloni in a video message for the
70th anniversary of the foundation of Italian energy giant Eni.
“The war in Ukraine has triggered a crisis from many points of
view, including on energy, but I am convinced that this crisis
can as always also become an opportunity,” she continued.

   
“And the opportunity may come from our geographical position and
the leadership that companies such as Eni have been able to
build.

   
We can aspire to become the natural energy supply hub for the
whole of Europe,” added Meloni.

   
The premier said the energy issue is also crucial “to give a
fairer and more equitable direction to the ecological
transition”.

   
For the government, she said, this “must go hand in hand with
social and economic sustainability” and requires “all
technologies: those already in use, those we are experimenting
with and those we have yet to discover”, citing “renewables,
gas, biofuels, hydrogen, carbon capture, but also all those
technologies that enable us to increasingly transform the
economy from linear to circular”.

   
“And then there is the great challenge of fusion energy: I know
that Eni’s researchers are working daily to make this incredible
prospect of having a clean and unlimited source of energy a
reality,” said Meloni. (ANSA).