Rome is moving independently as consumers face soaring fuel costs.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is on a surprise tour of Arab Gulf states that aims to ensure Rome continues to have access to crucial energy sources in the midst of the war in Iran.
Meloni kicked off her two-day trip on Friday afternoon, meeting with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Jeddah before traveling to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.
Due to security concerns, the visit — the first by a European leader to the region since the start of the war — was kept secret, with only Italian President Sergio Mattarella briefed on the plans ahead of Meloni’s departure. According to Italian media, the country’s intelligence services “strongly advised against” traveling to Gulf states, and ultimately persuaded the prime minister to cancel a stop in Kuwait.
In an interview with TG1, Meloni said she had chosen to travel to the Gulf “as a gesture of solidarity” with regional allies. But she admitted the trip also had the pragmatic goal of securing Rome’s access to the region’s oil.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 20 percent of the oil and natural gas that powers the global economy runs, is having a major impact on Italy. The Arab Gulf states supply the country with around 15 percent of the oil it consumes, and as prices have steadily risen during the last month Meloni’s government has allocated nearly €900 million to slash fuel taxes.
The regional visit reflects Rome’s unwillingness to wait for Brussels to come up with a response to the bloc-wide energy crisis. Meloni on Friday said she would move independently to “to guarantee Italy has access to the energy supply it needs.”