(Finance) – The Minister of Economy, Daniele Francoexplained the consequences of a possible exclusion of Russia from the payment system Swift on the possibility of paying the gas supplies destined for Italy and other EU countries. While acknowledging that this provision is obviously an important measure “, Franco stressed that” the concern of some countries, including Italy, but not only Italy, is the possibility of continuing to pay for Russian natural gas “.
Franco noted that “if a penalty were to interrupt the ability to pay, and thus interrupt the flows of natural gasfor a country like Italy which uses Russian gas for about 43% of its own requirement (data from last year) and about 15-16% of its energy needs, the sudden loss of this type of supply could be a problem “.
Here “I’m talking about Italy but there are countries that have percentages similar “, added Franco.Ecofin “we talked about it, but it’s not there
there is no difference of opinion on whether sanctions should operate, we just have to be careful not to create situations, in many countries, including Italy, which use Russian gas every day “, he concluded.