Why don’t NATO countries like the United States and Norway help Italy with gas? Scaroni Analysis (formerly Eni)

What should Italy do about increasing gas prices? Action to intervene on the price of Norwegian gas. And they called on the United States to help at the NATO level to prevent Europe from being the only continent that pays the price for the sacred defense of Ukraine”, according to Paolo Scaroni, former number one at Eni, who talks about Russia, Germany and later says that …

We publish some statements by Paolo Scaroni, former CEO of the Eni group, taken from an interview with Il Foglio newspaper; Here is the full version)

What should NATO do?

We were wrong, in NATO, not to build a pact with all NATO countries aimed at a specific goal. Together, we give Ukraine a hand to defend itself, as it should, but no NATO country should get rich in this situation. ”

The role of the United States of America and Norway

“I think of countries that have benefited from increased gas prices, including LNG, such as the United States and Canada, but above all I think, and I would say first of all to Norway, which exports 120 billion cubic meters of gas every year. ., in Europe, which today collects, while we suffer from bills, six times what it collected a year ago.”

Europe’s mistakes

It is the market. No: it is not farsighted. whose? “From the European political class that chose not to do what they ought to do: not deal with the price cap later, but deal with the price cap first, before the problem, and tie support with the package of sanctions to support our economies. Does it seem natural to you? It seems to me that It is wrong not to say, in NATO, see: we give Ukraine every possible support, but first you also tell us how evil and goods are divided. ”

real war

“Being Atlantic means protecting countries that are part of NATO. I don’t think it is a fad to say that protection should be doubled. Military protection. And our economies in wartime. Unless you want to consider the protection of national interests as a secondary aspect of defending democracy” .

Maximum price? Beautiful but impossible

“It was supposed to be the European countries most exposed to dealing with the problem, not Germany, which could solve some problems even on its own.” “Now we are in trouble. I am not sure that the possible maximum price, among other things, is a solution that can change the cards on the table. Imagine: we say that liquid gas, for example, can be paid no more than 100 euros per megawatt / hour, then in Japan they offer 110. Do you think the market offers LNG to those who pay more or to those who pay less?” The only cap that would make sense is pipeline gas, applicable to those countries, like Norway, like Algeria , like Azerbaijan, in theory also Libya, which unfortunately exports less and less, and that only gas they can not. export it from us.

Russia’s role in Italy

“For Italy, and for Europe, Russia has always been what Texas represented today for the United States: a low-cost, easily accessible, and easy-to-connect resource for energy and raw materials, and with this system Europe found its own form of balance. Russia has provided us with its own system. Energy at low prices, which we needed, and Europe gave Russia what it needed, namely technology and innovation. Today we are facing a historical transformation, which is a must, but I am not sure that we will be able to live, on an active level, as we have lived so far. There will be structural changes in the coming years.The consumption of the family will change, and in order to pay less bills, they will have to reduce energy consumption.The geography of distribution of large energy-intensive companies will change, which will most likely go outside Europe if expensive energy remains, I fear, We’ve been with us for a long time.The structural cost of the energy we’ll have will change as well, given how much gas we’ll be able to import and how many renewables we’ll be able to get, we’ll never be able to replace 29 billion cubic meters From Russian gas with the other gas pipeline, and obviously we pretend not to remind ourselves that the gas that comes from countries like Azerbaijan arrives with a political logic not alien to the Russian will. In short, what will happen seems obvious to me. We will import LNG and the exorbitant conversion costs of this LNG will be reduced on bills.”

From the frying pan to the bracelet?

And I fear that the European consumer will end up paying the bill, for electricity and gas, twice or three times as much as the American consumer. There will be alternatives, of course, but they are very expensive alternatives, even from a political point of view, if we consider that the only neighboring country that could one day supply us with the same quantities of gas that arrived from Russia until recently isIran. And I said everything.” “You have to be practical to solve the problems and if the problems are hiding under the rug we will not be able to solve them when you come back. I would advise, for example, not to understand that the governance of Europe, as it is, unfortunately does not work as it should, and in situations like the one we live in today, where everything is dealt with slowly, without a thorough evaluation. Seeing, one cannot be surprised if countries follow national ways to solve problems.”

What Italy can do

The first goal: to work like crazy to interfere in the price of Norwegian gas. We ask the United States for assistance at the NATO level to prevent Europe from being the only continent that pays the price for Ukraine’s sacred defense.”