Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has sharply criticised the European Union, describing it as a “short-sighted bureaucratic giant” whose excessive regulation is stifling industrial development and undermining the bloc’s global competitiveness.
Speaking on May 26, 2026, at the annual assembly of Confindustria, Italy’s main business lobby, which represents around 150,000 companies and more than five million workers, in Rome, Meloni warned that the EU, a bureaucratic behemoth, has too often sacrificed growth and strategic autonomy on the “altar of ideological and technocratic approaches”.
She called for a fundamental shift, urging the EU to “do less and do it better,” with a principle that “everything that is not explicitly forbidden for a higher protected interest should be allowed, without cages and constraints whose only consequence is suffocating economic initiative.”
She called for greater competitiveness, simplification and the cutting of red tape.
“When history knocked on our door, it swept away ideological frills, and we woke up in the real world. It was a rude awakening,” Meloni said, and stressed: “We must learn from the mistakes of the past.”
She also promised to work on a reform of bureaucracy in Italy, alongside a return to nuclear power and some legal changes, areas where her cabinet has been pressing for faster decisions in recent months.
Before taking her leave to a round of applause from the audience, Meloni said that Italy is no longer “the weak link in Europe” but rather “a credible, authoritative nation — yet we cannot stop now”.
She urged everyone to “aim high,” to “dare,” and to “resist, innovate, and relaunch.”
“Sic itur ad astra,” she quoted Virgil (“Thus the path to the stars is taken”), adding that “I ask you not to be afraid, because the time of uncertainty is also the time for courage, and the time for courage is inevitably the time for choices. Be brave, and I promise you I will do the same.”
Meloni’s intervention has come amid growing concerns from European industry leaders about regulatory overload, high energy costs, and competition from China and the United States, with the war in Ukraine and escalating tensions in the Middle East — including fears over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global energy flows — adding further pressure on production costs.
Confindustria President Emanuele Orsini echoed the warning, speaking of the risk of “industrial desertification” unless Brussels accelerates action on energy, trade, and simplification.
The Italian leader has repeatedly pushed for regulatory simplification, greater technological neutrality, and a more pragmatic approach to the Green Deal and the emissions trading system (ETS), which she has described as creating further disparities for European producers.
👉 Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has suggested that encouraging Italians to have more children would lessen the country’s reliance on regular immigration to fill labour shortages.
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