Rome has threatened to pull out of the EU’s flagship SAFE rearmament programme unless Brussels extends fiscal “escape clause” measures to allow spending to protect Italy from the Middle East energy crisis.

A letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, from Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, calls on her to suspend EU spending rules, currently relaxed for defence or rearmament spending, to also cover energy measures.

“Europe’s security is not measured solely through its military capabilities. It is also measured by its capacity to enable enterprises to continue to produce, households to cover energy costs, and States to ensure economic and social stability.”

She warned that unless her demand is met, Italy could withdraw from the EU’s €150 billion SAFE rearmament fund, which would a major blow to European efforts to boost security and defence.

“In the absence of such necessary political consistency, it would be very difficult for the Italian government to explain to public opinion possible recourse to the SAFE programme under the conditions envisaged at present,” she wrote.

The letter comes after days of tensions within the Italian government coalition, with Matteo Salvini’s Lega pressing the executive to take a stronger stance on fiscal austerity, increasingly opening a rift against defence-related spendings.

Guido Crosetto, the defence minister, from Meloni’s party Fratelli d’Italia, publicly stated that he had already written twice to the Economy Ministry, led by Lega’s Giancarlo Giorgetti, seeking guidance on the activation of SAFE contracts, with no response from the latter.

The letter links rising energy pressures to tensions in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the continuing effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine, stressing that these factors are already driving sharp and uneven increases in energy prices, “with consequences for households, businesses, competitiveness, and purchasing power”.

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