The South is aiming for a strong joint energy position ahead of the Council of Europe.

Rome, March 16 The heads of the governments 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 the reform of the EU energy market, which will help Rome reduce electricity prices tomorrow. An Italian government source told Efe about a meeting that Mario Draghi, Pedro Sánchez, and Antonio Costa will be attending. Kyriajos Mitotakis will participate in a video conference after testing positive COVID-19. The situation in Ukraine and the progress of the war will also be revealed, but the end of the summit will be a platform for the four countries of Southern Europe to achieve their energy goals at the Council of Europe, which will take place in Brussels on March 24 and 25. Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece are in good standing with energy issues, and given the unstable situation in some social sectors due to rising prices for electricity and fuel, we hope that tomorrow the EU will be able to 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 taking over at the community level. Italy is almost entirely dependent on gas. With 90% of its annual supply being imported and 45% coming from Russia, the government advocates that it is necessary to set price caps in emergencies such as the current one to prevent inflation, and Draghi told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels a few days ago. Draghi is also in favor of establishing a common storage system and, above all, a joint purchase of gas to the European Union (EU), which 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, accelerating renewable energy strategies as much as possible and promoting Spanish gas connections, ensuring security and autonomy in the European Union. The meeting is part of the contact session of the President of the Spanish government, which began Wednesday with a meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Andrei Plenkovic in Madrid, where he moved from Bratislava to Romania, Italy, Germany and Ireland with Eduard Heger. After the informal EU summit in Versailles (France), Sanchez announced this tour.This summit needed measures to reduce Europe's energy dependence on Russia, which is one of the main topics of discussion, and Draghi voted in favor of funding the European public debt caused by the war and energy and military shocks in Ukraine. Tomorrow the summit will take place at Villa Madama, a 16th-century mansion, and the Italian executive president usually starts at 11:00 local time (10:00 GMT), and state and government heads make statements to the media.