Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for the temporary extension of the national escape clause, already activated for defence spending under the reformed Stability and Growth Pact, to cover investments and extraordinary measures addressing surging energy costs.
In a letter sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on May 17, she stressed that this should occur without altering the overall deviation limits already foreseen in the rules.
The Italian Government argues that the crisis, exacerbated by tensions in the Middle East, including disruption to shipping around the Strait of Hormuz and the continuing effects of the war in Ukraine, represents a strategic priority comparable to defence.
“In the eyes of Europe’s citizens, there is another equally concrete and immediate emergency: the energy emergency,” Meloni wrote.
She highlighted the asymmetrical impact on energy prices, costs for families and firms, industrial competitiveness and purchasing power, warning of a potential new economic and social shock.
Meloni said the EC must give “a signal of coherence, common sense and closeness to citizens”.
Rome maintains it would continue to meet its responsibilities on European security and defence but insists energy security must also be recognised as a priority. Without such consistency, the letter suggests, it would be difficult to justify to the Italian public any recourse to defence-related programmes like the €150 billion Security Action for Europe (SAFE) loan scheme under current conditions.
“We cannot justify in the eyes of our citizens that the EU allows financial flexibility for security and defense strictly understood and not to defend families, workers and businesses from a new energy emergency,” Meloni wrote.
“Europe’s security is not measured only in military capacity. It is also measured in the possibility for companies to continue producing, for families to bear energy costs, for states to guarantee economic and social stability”, the Prime Minister added.
The Commission’s response has been cautious. Commission spokesman Olof Gill said that Brussels’ position had not changed.
“At the moment we are not including the National Safeguard Clause among these options, because we believe that the range of instruments presented should remain within a framework of fiscally responsible constraints. We will of course observe how the situation develops.”
The national escape clause was created as part of the Commission’s ReArm Europe Plan, also branded Readiness 2030, which aims to leverage more than €800 billion in defence spending. When triggered, it lets a member state deviate temporarily from the fiscal rules of the Stability and Growth Pact. The flexibility runs for four years from 2025, with an annual excess capped at 1.5 per cent of GDP through 2028.
The Council first activated the clause for 15 member states on July 8, 2025, followed by Germany on October 10, 2025 and Austria on February 17, 2026. The parallel SAFE instrument, adopted by the Council on May 27, 2025, offers up to €150 billion in long-maturity loans for joint defence procurement; according to the European Parliament’s research service, 19 member states had requested SAFE loans by autumn 2025.
This latest request builds on months of Italian advocacy.
In April 2026, at an informal European Council in Cyprus, Meloni welcomed Commission proposals on energy, such as tax cuts and changes to fuel distribution, as “a step forward” but “not enough”.
She and other ministers, including foreign minister and deputy prime minister Antonio Tajani, have repeatedly pushed for energy spending to receive the same budgetary treatment as defence.
Italy faces particular pressures as it narrowly missed a 3 per cent deficit target for 2025, remains under the excessive deficit procedure and has revised down growth forecasts while raising deficit and debt projections amid energy price volatility.
Rome has signalled it has not ruled out a national budget deviation if needed to support citizens and businesses. Within the governing coalition, Lega senator Claudio Borghi said on X that if Brussels refused the request, Italy should act unilaterally, while party sources said the move matched positions long held by Matteo Salvini’s Lega.
Other EU member states, including Spain, have voiced similar concerns about fiscal space for energy-related investments, though northern “frugal” countries and the Commission have generally favoured using existing instruments and maintaining overall discipline.
Italy is preparing its most significant return to nuclear energy in nearly four decades, marking a major shift in the country’s industrial and energy strategy under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.https://t.co/eEbiyWyqr7
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 15, 2026
