Rome: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed optimism on the current condition of the country’s economy, anticipating this to surpass that of its European counterparts.
During her address to the Italian business organization Confindustria on Wednesday, she expressed the belief that Italy might achieve a one-percent economic growth this year. In an effort to streamline this process, she pledged to seek solutions to amend the European Union’s environmental regulations, often referred to as the “European Green Deal”, contending that it hindered economic progress, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
Meloni’s growth proposal aligns with the previous forecasts made by ISTAT, Italy’s National Statistics Institute, which, in June, projected a 1.0 percent growth rate for the economy this year and a 1.1 percent growth rate by 2025.
However, the likelihood of achieving this goal seems to have decreased after ISTAT’s report indicating that the economy had only risen by 0.7 percent in the first half of the year, in comparison to the same time in 2023.
Additionally, Meloni expressed disapproval of what she referred to as the “ideological approach of the European Green Deal” towards environmental norms, which she described as “decarbonization achieved at the expense of deindustrialization.”
“It is a calamity,” Meloni said. “I have pledged to rectify these decisions. We want to safeguard the industrial capabilities of Europe… (Moreover) we must possess the bravery to voice our opinions when approaches are ineffective.
Meloni has been a prominent EU detractor of the Green Deal, a policy aimed at expediting the shift towards renewable energy sources, electric cars, and other strategies to achieve a 55% reduction in European net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and a complete abatement by 2050.
