"We must increase national gas production with the fields already open".

The proposal to counter the expensive bills - with the increases in electricity and gas tariffs that will continue in the first half of 2022 and will affect families and businesses - comes from the Minister of Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani.

The high cost of energy, according to the exponent of the Draghi government, "is the price for having made certain choices. We decided that it was better to buy gas abroad instead of using ours".

For this reason, he announced, "in the next 12-18 months we must also move in other directions". One of these is the more intensive exploitation of Italian gas fields: they could "perhaps double the current 4 billion cubic meters", he explained, "we must use all the arrows at our disposal".

"Italy has managed to diversify its supply sources. But it has a really poor energy mix and now it pays for the wrong choices of the past. We have made an implosive policy: in 2000 we produced 20 billion cubic meters of gas, today we produce it. only 4.5, compared to a consumption of 72 billion cubic meters. We import everything and therefore we are vulnerable ", added Cingolani. The reference is to the strong dependence developed by Italy on Russia.

In addition to the budget of 3.8 billion euros in the budget, there are currently several proposals being examined by the government to combat the increases, in addition to those under discussion at European level: "There are several options on the table, starting with tax exemption, obviously to be negotiated with the Commission. In Europe there has also been a lot of talk about how the price of energy linked to gas is calculated. In January there should be an EU inter-ministerial on energy. Each country is doing the math ", concluded Cingolani .