The Italian government is unsatisfied of the amount set aside by the European Commission in its proposed spending on energy projects in the Mediterranean country, Industry Minister Claudio Scajola said Thursday, threatening not to vote for its approval.
In a statement, Scajola said he had written a letter to European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs saying the EUR150 earmarked for projects in the country out of a total of EUR5 billion for the 27-country bloc is "penalizing."
The amount set aside for Italy includes the ITGI natural gas pipeline, led by Edison SpA (EDN.MI), which will connect the Caspian area to Italy and Greece via Turkey. The other project earmarked for European Union funding is the power line connecting the Italian island of Sicily to the mainland via Calabria.
in his letter to Piebalgs, Scajola said the Commission ignored important energy infrastructure links to the Balkans and north Africa from Italy that diversify sources and boost security.
Italy has asked the Commission to review the list of projects that benefit from the financing so that the country can vote in favor of it at the Energy Ministers' Council of Feb. 19.
The Commission proposed Wednesday spending EUR5 billion to help revive the European economy, including new funds for alternative energy, high-speed Internet and gas pipelines to diversify European supply away from Russia.