PARIS — As EU leaders gathered in Cyprus on Thursday to wrestle with the fallout from the Iran war — including high fossil-fuel prices, the security situation in the Straits of Hormuz and emergency tools to shield Europe’s economy — Italy arrived with a familiar problem: While Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants to keep the screws on Moscow, her country is still exposed to the energy shock that comes with it.
That tension burst into the open last week after Ms. Meloni met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Rome and argued that sanctions and “economic pressure” remain the best way to force Russia toward peace. She also said the EU must keep financing Kyiv, warning that a financial collapse in Ukraine would inflict “incalculable damage” on Europe itself.
The problem is that Italy remains a gas-heavy economy at the worst possible moment.
Confindustria, the country’s main business lobby, said just days ago that the Iran-war energy shock is already being felt in Italy, with weaker business and consumer confidence and a darker economic outlook.
The European Commission, for its part, this week urged governments to cut electricity taxes, use more flexibility on gas storage and prepare targeted relief as the price shock spreads.
That helps explain why the debate in Italy has turned edgy.
Claudio Descalzi, chief executive of Italian energy company Eni, warned this month that Europe should rethink how it handles the planned phaseout of Russian gas imports, asking how the bloc would replace roughly 20 billion cubic meters of Russian liquefied natural gas, or LNG.
Ms. Meloni did not endorse that line, but she pointedly said it was too early to talk about going back to Russian gas only because she still hoped peace could come before the ban fully bites.
Meanwhile, Europe has already been forced into uncomfortable compromises. The Financial Times, citing Kpler data, reported that EU imports from Russia’s Yamal LNG project rose 17% in the first quarter of 2026 as the Middle East crisis tightened global supply.
That is the trap for Rome and for much of Europe: leaders want to sound hard-headed on Russia, but every new shock reminds them how incomplete the EU’s energy divorce from Moscow still remains.
For Ms. Meloni, that leaves little room for easy slogans. While Italy can back Ukraine and talk about strategic resolve, as long as Europe remains vulnerable to gas shocks, the price of this toughness will keep showing up in power bills and domestic politics.
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