EXPERT COMMENT
As the EU seeks to diversify its energy supply, Russian ‘gas-laundering' could undermine its foreign policy objectives.
As host of last week's G7 summit, Italy was thrown back into the spotlight. Its prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is positioning herself as a constructive leader who is both pro-EU and pro-NATO, in stark contrast with her pro-Russian stance before coming to power.
The Achilles heel of Italy's relationship with Russia used to be Russian gas. Much like the rest of Europe, prior to 2022 Italy was heavily dependent on Russian gas imports, which made up as much as 40 per cent of its energy supply.
In line with many of its fellow EU member states, Italy has taken significant steps to reduce direct energy imports from Russia. Yet while on paper it may seem as though Italy has reduced its dependency on Russian pipeline gas, it continues to receive high volumes of pipeline gas through Austria, which increased its pipeline gas imports from Russia from 80 per cent to 98 per cent in the past two years.
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