Osnato (FdI): “High energy prices? A blanket cut in excise duties cannot be the solution. Schlein? She’s on the right track on nuclear power”

“Like other governments, we have tried to tackle emergencies with cash injections, such as cutting excise duties. But these measures are very costly, unfair and rather regressive: they do not allow us to differentiate between someone filling up a Ferrari and someone filling up a van to go to work.” These were the words of Marco Osnato, a member of parliament for Fratelli d’Italia and chair of the Finance Committee at the Chamber of Deputies, speaking to "Il Foglio" about high fuel and energy prices. Yesterday, Brent crude closed at over one hundred dollars a barrel on the markets (100.65 to be precise), up seven per cent on the previous day, whilst petrol prices in Italy are set to breach the psychological threshold of two euros a litre. The opposition is calling on the government to intervene, but Osnato stresses that cutting excise duties “cannot be the solution if the relief remains across the board. However, we could consider targeting specific sectors – those most vulnerable at this time – as has been done for the road haulage, agricultural and fishing sectors”.

At yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, the government effectively postponed the issue of excise duty cuts. However, according to reports, the Minister for the Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, is reportedly considering the idea of introducing ‘floating excise duties’ – a mechanism whereby part of the additional VAT revenue generated by the rise in oil prices could be used to temporarily reduce the excise duties applied to petrol and diesel. However, this mechanism would only be triggered when the average price of crude oil exceeds a certain threshold. In recent hours, some newspapers have also reported, as a last resort, the risk of having to reopen coal-fired power stations, but Osnato rules this out: “I don’t think we’ll ever reach that situation, but there’s no point in pretending it isn’t a possibility. However, it’s a very, very remote one.”

The international situation, however, certainly does not help, and on this point Osnato is clear: “We must work not just as Italy, but all together so that the Hormuz crisis, which is affecting the entire sector, begins to subside for real, not just for show; so Trump’s issue is certainly a hot topic, just as the issue of Iran is a hot topic, given that it is still pretending not to be at fault.” Later that morning, Confcommercio also issued a statement on the impact of rising energy prices on service sector businesses: “If these price levels were to become established, energy costs for service sector businesses would rise, over the coming months, by around 22 per cent compared with the average for the first half of the year, representing an overall increase of more than 150 million euros per month.” The organisation is therefore calling for action “to decouple the price of electricity from that of gas, so as to contain costs for businesses and strengthen their competitiveness”. 

In light of all this, says the FdI MP, “Our work on the reintroduction of nuclear power is becoming more urgent. However, there’s no point in deluding ourselves: we won’t resolve this issue either this year or next, but looking ahead, the work done by the government is important. I also saw an interview with the secretary of the Democratic Party in your very own newspaper, in which it seems to me she has shifted her tone somewhat on nuclear power; clearly, we have managed to steer her towards more concrete positions.” Elly Schlein’s openness has certainly not gone down badly with the Prime Minister’s party, and when we ask Osnato whether there might be an attempt to work together with the Prime Minister on this issue, he says: “Meloni has always said that she is open to all discussions on matters of national interest, such as nuclear power, and so we are pleased to have read those words. We are also waiting to see what happens in Parliament.”

Because, Osnato continues, “I believe we are all realising that, to avoid situations like these, we need to plan for significant nuclear power generation in the medium term”. The urgency to turn to this form of energy arises because “we cannot afford the large-scale photovoltaic installations that Spain has, for example, as we do not have the same amount of space, and when it comes to wind power, our topography and the number of hours of wind do not allow for particularly high yields”, but, he assures us, “work is being done to further increase renewable energy production”.