The European Commission plans to grant Member States greater fiscal leeway to deal with the consequences of the energy crisis, following requests made in recent weeks by Spain and Italy to relax European budgetary rules in the face of soaring energy prices, according to EU sources who spoke to Europa Press.
This initiative will be integrated into the fiscal package that the Community Executive will present this Wednesday, at which time the details will be specified, and it will open the door for governments to spend up to 0.3% of their annual GDP on energy-related items.
Brussels' reaction comes after the request made by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, at the last informal EU leaders' summit held in April, where he called for a debate to facilitate investment in electrification and renewable energies, following a logic similar to that applied to defense spending.
In parallel, the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has increased pressure on Community institutions in recent weeks for the same treatment given to military spending to be extended to energy.
"We cannot tell citizens that money is only for defense," the Italian leader argued at the end of May, demanding that the investments necessary to mitigate the impact of the energy crisis be covered by greater fiscal flexibility.