Energy costs now ‘main issue’ for US ally that barred nuclear power

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said high energy costs are the most critical economic issue for her country on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Italy has embraced green energy and enacted a ban on nuclear power that has lasted nearly 40 years, though the nation’s Council of Ministers and Meloni have recently moved to reintroduce the technology, joining other European countries like Belgium, Denmark and Germany that are also reconsidering their turns away from nuclear power. Emanuele Orsini — the head of Italy’s largest business lobby — called for Meloni to cut energy costs and pave the way for a return to nuclear energy at the annual assembly for Confindustria, where Meloni again acknowledged her country’s energy problems, Reuters reported.

“The main issue we have to face … are energy costs,” Meloni said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Meloni further stated that her administration was assessing Italy’s energy market to see if high prices are in part due to speculation, the outlet reported.

“Our companies continue to suffer from an energy (price) surcharge of more than 35% over the European average, even reaching peaks of 80% when compared to the largest European countries,” Orsini said at the assembly, according to Reuters.

Italy banned nuclear power in 1987 after the Chernobyl disaster. In December 2024, some green energy proponents celebrated as Italy generated more power from green energy sources than fossil fuels for the first time, though its electricity costs were found to be the tied for the highest in the continent while it remained the largest net electricity importer in Europe.

Meloni has expressed support for expanding nuclear energy in Italy, as have other officials, including the Minister of Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin.

“To have a guarantee of continuity on clean energy, we must insert a quota of nuclear energy,” Fratin told the Financial Times in July 2024. Green energy technologies like solar and wind power “cannot provide the security that we need,” he continued.

Energy security and grid reliability have been top of mind for European officials in the wake of the 2022 energy price spike that hurt the continent’s economies after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out and in the weeks that have followed a major power grid failure in Spain.

Spain’s devastating blackout in April shut down trains, stranded travelers around Spain, Portugal and France, caused some water services to fail, halted electronic payments and ATM transactions, disrupted communications, and resulted in the deaths of at least four people, according to EuroWeekly News. Though the initial cause of the blackout remains under investigation, Spain’s reliance on green energy technology worsened the issue, several energy policy experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

High energy prices and grid instability have been plaguing Europe and regions of the U.S., particularly those that rely on green energy technology and have sought to phase out readily-available power sources. Many of these nations are now moving to secure their grids and lower electricity costs by expanding nuclear energy technology.

President Donald Trump signed four executive orders to pave the way for nuclear technology expansion on Friday.

“With these actions, President Trump is showing the world that America will build again, and that the American nuclear renaissance can begin,” President and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios told reporters Friday.

The Italian Embassy and Confindustria did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

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