Italy: energy trailblazer

Italy's approach to energy shows that it is sometimes necessary to do a deal with the devil.

Oil's share of Italy's energy consumption is being steadily replaced by natural gas, which currently accounts for 35%. However, the country's scarcity of fossil fuels means that 84% of the natural gas consumed must be imported and the lion's share of that comes from two uncomfortable trading partners: Algeria's Sonatrach (38%) and Russia's Gazprom (32%). Moscow has repeatedly wielded gas as a geopolitical weapon, while Algiers's political future remains uncertain and opaque.

When Sonatrach and Gazprom inked a memorandum of understanding last year with a commitment for increased cooperation, Rome got so worried that it wrote a letter to Brussels. However, other than repeatedly calling for more diverse, secure and sustainable energy sources, the EU has done little of substance to quell Italy's fears.

So, instead of patiently waiting for the EU to eventually develop its comprehensive energy strategy, Rome decided to make most of its bad situation and take a bilateral approach. Knowing that there are no viable alternatives, it opted for appeasing the potential bullies. It has already signed a deal with Gazprom, which will give the Russian gas-giant direct access to Italian distribution networks and thus consumers.

Similar deals with Algiers will likely be discussed when Italian and Algerian leaders meet in Sardinia on Wednesday. In the long run, the EU's failure to develop a comprehensive energy strategy will push more member states to seek closer bilateral ties with energy exporters. This will not only increase those, sometimes troublesome, regimes' economic influence, but also their political clout on individual member states and thus the EU in general.