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Updated July 13th, 2022 at 13:11 IST

Italy's PM Draghi to announce steps to tackle worsening economic situation, energy crisis

Draghi held a meeting with the trade leaders and unions as well as the labor leaders as the Russian energy giant Gazprom cut the gas supplies to Italy.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Italy
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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As Russia cut further supply of gas citing 10 days of routine maintenance for its Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced that he will instate emergency measures to tackle the worsening economic and energy crisis situation to control the rising costs. At a presser, Draghi  urged for "stable structural interventions" in order to control the rising inflation across the country after he met with the labor leaders. He also called for "full participation" of Italy's trade unions in the reform process, adding that he would unveil the "full plan of economic incentives" on July 23, Xinhua reported. 

Draghi held a meeting with the trade leaders and unions as well as the labor leaders as the Russian energy giant Gazprom cut the gas supplies to Italy. He proposed the changes to the tax system, wage hikes to help offset rising prices, and other economic incentives, as per the reports.

Italy's Eni announces rollback on Russian gas supply

The rollback on the Russian gas supply was announced by Italy's Eni, which said in a statement that Moscow's state corporation Gazprom was scaling back on the supply of gas owing to the routine maintenance on its Nord Stream 1 pipeline. “Gazprom announced that today it will supply to Eni volumes of gas for approximately 21 million cubic meters/day, while the average for the last few days was of about 32 million cubic meters/day,” Eni informed. The Italian firm blamed the supply cut to the Portovaya plant that gets supplied from Nord Stream gas pipeline. 

Russia's gas supply reduction to Italy, and other European nations has come just days after Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi made a surprise visit to Kyiv to express support and solidarity against the ongoing Russian military aggression. In a separate address, he labelled the gas crisis as a "retaliatory move" by Russia's president Vladimir Putin, as he also simultaneously denounced Gazprom’s "maintenance work" explanation as ‘total lies’. “We are seeing a political use of gas, just as we have seen a political use of wheat,” Draghi told reporters, adding “this is a (Russian) strategy that must be faced and fought.” Russia's state corporation Gazprom’s supplies gas into Italy mainly via Trans Austria Gas Pipeline (TAG) and partially through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. 

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Published July 13th, 2022 at 13:11 IST

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