Official visit by Giorgia Meloni to the Czech Republic: focus on ETS, energy and migration

Official visit for the Prime Minister to the Czech Republic, accompanied by the Minister of Economy Giorgetti. Face to face with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Among the objectives is to create a common front to try to convince EU partners, at the next European Council in October, to further review the ETS system and correct the CO2 market

A "broad and in-depth" comparison, which went from the review of the "unbalanced" ETS system to the dossiers on energy and migration. These are the themes at the center of the visit of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to the Czech Republic, where - at the invitation of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš - she is accompanied by the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti. The Italian delegation was welcomed in Prague by Babiš, with whom Meloni had a face-to-face meeting around 7 pm. Then the statements to the press. “In recent years, Italy and the Czech Republic have been closer than ever,” said the Prime Minister, underlining the “complementarity of our production systems” and the “convergence of views on European dossiers”, also thanks to the “personal harmony with Babis”, whose “courage, clarity and pragmatism”. Afterwards, a working dinner hosted by the Czech Prime Minister in honor of Meloni.

The common proposals to the EU Council to change the ETS

The two heads of government worked on some "operational proposals" to present to the European Council in October to "counter the high energy prices" and "correct the ETS mechanism", the European carbon taxation system. "We have talked about it on many occasions, on many occasions we have denounced how the current mechanisms of the carbon taxation system create imbalances and end up artificially inflating prices and therefore - said Meloni - we have put down on paper some proposals that we believe can effectively address this issue, asking in particular to protect the sectors most exposed to international competition by intervening on the distribution mechanisms of ETS quotas, limit the transmission of carbon costs to electricity prices, strengthen the transparency and monitoring of the ETS quota market, postpone entry in force of Ets 2 which obviously also risks having a negative impact on a system which today above all needs to be freed",

Meloni: "Ready to become Prague's partner on nuclear power"

Melon highlighted how both Rome and Prague are committed "to diversifying energy supply sources", which paves the way for the opportunity to "become technological and industrial partners starting from new generation nuclear power". The Czech Republic - he underlines - "invests in the development of small modular reactors", an area in which "Italy has just started again".

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Meloni's appeal on energy: "I hope that other actors will lend a hand"

Meloni also spoke about the response of private companies in the energy sector to deal with the price increases. "Everything the government does is an appeal to lend a hand to families and businesses" in this international context, he said, expressing satisfaction "with the participation first of Eni, then of Ip and Q8 for the attention received, today I see that the topic extends to bills". And again: "I hope that the actors will choose to lend a hand, responding to an appeal to do their best consistent with what can be done in a moment of difficulty. I am satisfied and I thank everyone who makes an effort."

"Use the new EU rules to the maximum on migrants"

Regarding migrants, Meloni said, "we cannot solve the problem by dumping it on the nearest country, we have worked on the external dimension, I think a future step of cooperation could be to make the most of the new rules, passing through the hubs in third countries".

"Avoid the risk of Europe no longer being competitive"

The central issue for Rome Prague, highlighted Meloni, is that of competitiveness. "We are both determined to avoid the concrete risk that Europe is no longer able to produce, invest and impact global markets," he said.

The impact of war in the Middle East

We also look at the war in the Middle East. The Prime Minister focused on "the conflict in Iran, the closure of Hormuz, the instability in the Red Sea, the impact that these crises together are having on our systems, in our societies which do nothing but aggravate a situation that was already critical and this obviously requires us to act, to do so immediately", she observed.

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The 2026-2030 Action Plan

Also at the center of the mission is the adoption of the Italy-Czech Republic Action Plan 2026-2030, which defines the framework of collaboration for the coming years and identifies some of the main areas in which the two nations intend to further deepen the partnership: from political and economic cooperation to defense and security, from infrastructure to research and innovation, up to the issues of migration and competitiveness. This will be accompanied by the launch of the Italy-Czech Republic Year of Culture 2027-2028, with a program of initiatives aimed at enhancing the profound cultural ties and relationships between the two peoples. Particular attention will be paid to economic and industrial cooperation, in light of the important complementarities between the two production systems and the presence of numerous Italian companies in the Czech Republic.

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Regeni, Meloni: "Closing the channels with Egypt risks taking us away from the objective"

During the press statements, Meloni also touched on topics that go beyond the visit to Prague itself. Among these was the murder of Giulio Regeni, after the sentence with which the Roman judges condemned the Egyptian 007s involved in the kidnapping of the researcher. "I want to reiterate my closeness to the family of Giulio Regeni, to their request which is also ours for truth and justice. The Italian state is a civil party in the trial, so we too are absolutely determined to seek the truth about the matter. The sentence has not yet become final, so everything will have to be done in the ways and times in which it will be necessary to do so. I can say that in this search for truth and justice we have always used all channels. We have also used the political and diplomatic channels with Cairo, I have a bit of doubt that by closing those channels we move closer to our goals rather than away from those goals," the prime minister said.

"Solid relations with the USA, not affected by current events"

Meloni also reflected on relations with the USA. "Everyone in the EU knows how I think about the unity of the West and the fact that it is very important for all of us to maintain this solid bond. I speak for Italy but it applies to the whole of Europe, we are all stronger if we are united, we are all weaker if we are divided", he said. Between Italy and the United States, added the Prime Minister, relations are solid and "it is not a solidity that can be questioned, scratched by current events. I am determined to continue to strengthen these relations because I think it is in the interests of Italy and Europe".

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Giulio Regeni, 007 convicted of kidnapping but not of murder