Rome, 10 March (LaPresse) – Ahead of the European Council meeting on 19 and 20 March and in light of the latest developments in the Middle East, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever hosted a videoconference meeting of the informal working group on European competitiveness, which was launched at the leaders' retreat in Alden Biesen on 12 February. According to a statement from Palazzo Chigi, Italy, Germany and Belgium were joined in the videoconference by the European Commission, Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Spain, Slovenia, Sweden and Slovakia. “The discussion,” the statement reads, “focused primarily on the short- and medium-term consequences of the ongoing conflict on the global energy market and on possible initiatives to be promoted quickly to contain the rise in energy prices”. with Meloni focusing in particular on ‘the need for a temporary suspension of the carbon taxation mechanism (ETS) on energy production, pending a rapid and more comprehensive review of the mechanism to also address the issues of free allowances, the volatility of ETS tariffs and the interaction of the ETS mechanism with the rules of the European electricity market.’ Attention was also paid to the completion of the Single Market and European regulatory simplification. The leaders, the note concludes, finally agreed to remain in close contact ahead of the March European Council ‘to keep the spotlight on competitiveness issues and contribute to the definition of concrete objectives and precise deadlines in the text of the conclusions’.
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