South is aiming for a strong common energy position ahead of the Council of Europe

Rome, March 16 The heads of government of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece will work to agree on a strong common position on energy issues that will join the next European Commission to promote reforms in the EU energy market that will help to cut electricity prices in Rome tomorrow. Italian government sources told Efe about the meeting that Mario Draghi, Pedro Sánchez and Antonio Costa will attend. Kyriajos Mitsotakis will participate in a video conference after testing PositiveCovid-19. The situation in Ukraine and the progress of the war will also be revealed, but the end of the summit will serve as a platform for the four countries of southern Europe to achieve their energy targets during the Council of Europe, which will take place in Brussels on March 24 and 25. Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece are in good line with energy issues, and given the unstable situation in some social sectors due to rising electricity and fuel prices, we hope that tomorrow the EU can move on to the main goal of taking action as soon as possible. A source from the Italian government told Efe: “Italy's plan is based on three factors: setting gas highs, implementing a common storage system, and making acquisitions at Community level. Italy is almost entirely dependent on gas. With 90% of the annual supply being imported and 45% coming from Russia, the government advocates that it is necessary to set a price cap in an emergency like the current one to prevent inflation, and Draghi told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen a few days ago in Brussels Draghi is also in favour of setting up a common storage system and, above all, for the joint purchase of gas to the European Union (EU). This means greater contractual power compared to country-specific acquisitions and price reductions. Sanchez agrees with Italian colleagues on the need to reduce energy prices and make centralized purchases, but advocates separating electricity prices from gas prices, accelerates renewable energy strategies as much as possible, and promotes Spanish gas connectivity to ensure security and autonomy to ensure into the EU. The meeting is part of the Spanish Government President's contact session, which began with a meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in Madrid on Wednesday and later, before moving with Eduard Heger from Slovakia from Bratislava to Romania, Italy, Germany and Ireland. After the unofficial EU summit in Versailles (France), Sanchez announced this tour. This summit, as one of its main topics of discussion, required action to reduce Europe's energy dependence on Russia, and Draghi came out in favour of financing Ukraine's energy and military shock and European public debt caused by the war. Tomorrow, the summit will take place at Villa Madama, a 16th-century mansion where the Italian executive president usually starts at 11:00 local time (10:00 GMT) and heads of state and government make a statement to the media.