Energy, Brussels grants Rome a mini-clause
6.5 billion per year
Published on 03/06/2026
A partial opening with well-defined limits and conditions that combine some guidelines on which Brussels has no intention of backing down, ranging from the need to ensure fiscal sustainability but also opposition to indiscriminate subsidies: the Commission is ready to respond to Rome, which arrived via the letter signed by Premier Meloni requesting an extension of the derogation from the Stability Pact for defense also to energy, with a partial yes: a mini-clause of 6.5 billion with a maximum cap of thirteen, delimited by rather strict limits and conditions.
It is no secret that Ursula von der Leyen in recent years has cultivated an increasingly close relationship with the Italian premier, and while on one hand she has chosen to listen to the government's requests "with the utmost attention," on the other she has the task of keeping the ship steady also in view of a possible further worsening of the situation, thus leaving some aces still to play.
Thus, after more than two weeks of work and discrete interlocutions, the Commission has therefore chosen to allow Italy - and anyone among the 27 who wishes - a margin of flexibility for energy-related investments equal to 0.3% of annual GDP for the three-year period 2026-28 but with a maximum cap of 0.6%. The distribution of this margin, as Ansa explains, is not mandatory (it could be, for example, 0.2% this year and a subsequent 0.4%). What is mandatory, however, is the activation of the national safeguard clause for defense, which is worth 1.5% of annual GDP. And it is within this perimeter that flexibility for energy investments will be able to fit.
