(supersedes previous).
Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday
"renewable energy is at 39%, our goal is to take it up to 50%.
"It's a goal within our grasp, not with incentives but with
a clear legal framework."
Italy's new push in renewable energy will regard wind and
water power more than solar energy, Renzi said.
"We are already leaders in solar power," he said, while
admitting ghat there was ground to be made up in wind and water
energy plants.
He was speaking at a press conference at the UN in New
York.
Italy is set to make a fresh push on renewable energy after
a failed referendum on offshore drilling, Renzi said.
"It's fundamental that no one should think that the
environmental question has been put into a corner...We are here
to announce that we are a leader in renewable energy sources and
we ask the UN and the world to be more sensitive to these
issues," he said.
Italy in recent years has invested a lot in renewable
energy sources such as solar energy and wind farms.
Renzi also said EU migrant policy had changed compared to a
year ago when Italy gelt alone in coping with an influx across
the Mediterranean and tragedies at sea.
A year ago Italy was alone in facing "the terrible
shipwreck with 700 dead and there was the total solitude of
Italy, only Malta was with us" but in a year "a lot has changed,
also for the dynamics involving the Balkans and Turkey, in a
year they have understood that when Italy asked for investments
in Africa it did so for a political reason," he said.
"I think the ship is changing tack. Ships don't spin
around, they move slowly. But we are changing direction, the
signs are interesting".
Renzi said that the migrant issue "cannot be solved in a
talk show or by someone shouting. It is a crisis that is only
resolved by policies. We will handle the migrant question
without shouting, that is the difference between those who
interpret politics as attacks and insults and those who seek
solutions".
The controversial EU-Turkey deal returning migrants from
Greece respects international law, Renzi said.
"I think international law has been respected," he said.
Rights groups have criticised the deal, in which one
Syrian migrant is settled in Europe for every migrant returned
from Greece.
Renzi said that he had "very much appreciated (European
Commission President Jean-Claude) Juncker's letter (on
Italy's migration compact), I thank him for his sensitivity".
He said the issue "requires awareness on the part of
Europe...We note that there is a good atmosphere with European
institutions compared to a few months ago".
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