NRRP not enough, EU must do more on energy - Meloni

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 5 - Premier Giorgia Meloni on Monday reiterated her call for the European Union to do more to address the problem of soaring energy prices.
    Speaking via video link to the 'festival of the regions' event in Milan, she said that it was "clear to everyone" that the post-COVID Next Generation EU programme was "no longer sufficient" because "it could not take into consideration the impact that the Ukraine war has had on our economies".
    Italy has been allocated almost 200 billion euros in grants and low-interest loans for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) to make its economy more modern and Greener as part of the Next Generation EU programme.
    "It is necessary to do more today at the EU level, starting with the problem of expensive energy," the premier said.
    "The pandemic and then the war have projected us into a completely new world, a new geopolitical situation in which it is not possible to do without unity and cohesion at all levels and we cannot fail to have a long-term vision," she added.
    "Our structural problems are primarily the product of the short-sighted policies of the past, starting with those regarding energy.
    "In the past the EU and many member States, including Italy, preferred to increase their level of reliance on other nations instead of working to implement measures that strengthened production, independence and national energy security". (ANSA).