Four days after the war started in Ukraine, in February, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio boarded a flight to Algeria to discuss additional gas supplies from that country. On Monday, he again went to Algiers, along with Prime Minister Mario Draghi, to sign an important gas deal.
The aim is for Algeria to increase its gas exports to Italy by about 50 percent via the Trans-Mediterranean gas pipeline (TransMed), which extends through Tunisia to Sicily. Last year, Italy received 21 billion cubic meters from Algeria, and Algeria wants to increase that supply by nine to ten billion cubic meters by the end of this year.
If successful, Algeria could become the main gas supplier to Italy. And thereby surpassing Russia, which now supplies 29 billion cubic meters per year. Italy still imports 45 percent of its gas from Russia. That’s a lot, and energy isn’t the only thing that binds Italy to Russia. Many Italian companies also have major business interests there.
Yet, without hesitation, Rome sided with NATO and the EU when Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine. Italy supports the European sanctions package; a position that Russia calls “indecent” given its former good ties. Prime Minister Draghi reacted strongly to the Russian criticism in Rome last week, in the presence of his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte. “Indecent? Those are just the massacres we see every day.”
Algeria could become Italy’s main gas supplier
Not only Italy wants to quickly become less dependent on Russia. Tiny Lithuania last week became the first European country to completely stop using Russian gas. Germany aims to become dependent on Russian oil by the end of this year and on gas by mid-2024. This makes Europe’s energy dependence on Russia an important issue for the EU.
On Monday, European foreign ministers met again on Ukraine. After an import ban on Russian coal was decided last week, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell hinted that an oil embargo could be the next step. But a number of Member States are holding back. A European ban on the import of gas is still a bridge too far, precisely because large member states such as Germany and Italy are still so dependent on Moscow.
Since blocking the gas supply from Russia is not yet an option, Draghi argues for a price cap for gas. Last month it was agreed at the European summit that such a ceiling would be examined together with the sector. The Netherlands is skeptical about this, because it would amount to intervening in the market. Rutte promised Draghi an open discussion in Rome. “And that’s more,” said Draghi about Rutte, “than he had to offer us until now.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of April 12, 2022
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