Draghi: “Do we prefer peace or the air conditioner on?”

The question is neither simplistic nor rhetorical: it is reality reduced to the bone and at the same time the symbol of what we are experiencing. “We wonder if the price of gas can be exchanged for peace. Do we prefer peace or the air conditioner on? This is the question we must ask ourselves, ”said Prime Minister Mario Draghi, presenting the Def, the document on economics and finance, but also talking about the war in Ukraine. In this measure, another 5 billion is allocated to families and businesses put in difficulty by the increase in energy costs.

It is not only with sanctions that Russia could decide to withdraw from Ukraine, but for now they are the only tool, along with sending defense weapons to Kiev, that the West has used. The sanction that would be more powerful, the farewell to Russian gas, has not been reached. We did not get there precisely because for Italy, as for other countries, it could cost: it is not so much the conditioning on, but the activity of industry.

For the first time, however, Draghi said that the path towards this sanction is possible. «The stop to the supply of Russian gas is not a hypothesis currently under discussion», he explained, «but the situation is changing before our eyes, the devastation and massacres surprised us. The premeditated aggression of Russia was unfolding in a terrible way, but now it seems that the massacres of civilians and children are increasing and this leads to increasingly severe sanctions. Today the gas embargo is not on the table, I don’t know if it ever will be, but the more horrendous this war becomes, the more the allied countries are wondering: in the absence of our direct participation in the war what can we do to stop it? To allow Ukraine to sit at the peace table in an unnecessary position ».

If Italy acts alone, it could be a driving force for Europe, some say. Certainly Germany is against it. Rome could also gain positions in the management of energy policy. According to an ISPI / Ipsos survey, 86% of those interviewed say they are willing to reduce their consumption in the event of an energy crisis generated by the conflict. According to the data analyzed by ISPI, it would not be enough, but it would be a step forward.