Giorgetti hails “unthinkable” breakthrough. The European Commission has accepted Italy’s request to expand the national safeguard clause in the Stability and Growth Pact beyond defence spending to cover energy resilience measures. This follows weeks of intensive negotiations driven by the price shock triggered by the war in Iran.
Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti declared himself satisfied on Wednesday after Brussels formally accepted Italy’s proposal to extend the scope of the national escape clause in the Stability and Growth Pact to include energy. Until recently, the measure was activated exclusively for defence spending.
“I am satisfied because the Commission has accepted our proposals, the result of long, serious, confidential work, and this was unthinkable until a few months ago,” Giorgetti said. He added that the Economy and Finance Ministry would make “the most targeted proposals to protect businesses and families” once the precise limits of the clause’s application are established.
Weeks of diplomatic effort
The outcome is the product of a sustained Italian push that began in earnest last month. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni formally wrote to the European Commission on 17 May, requesting that the flexibility of the Stability and Growth Pact be extended to cushion the impact on households and businesses of the energy crisis caused by the war in Iran. Meloni’s letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen argued that this should occur without altering the overall deviation limits already foreseen in the rules, and that the crisis represented a strategic priority comparable to defence.
Giorgetti had been pressing the case at European level for some weeks, raising the proposal at the Eurogroup and, on the margins of the G7 Finance Ministers’ meeting in Paris in May, holding bilateral talks with European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis.
What Brussels has agreed
The Commission’s spring package of recommendations proposes allowing member states to request an extension of the current national derogation clause — already in place for defence — to energy resilience measures, on a temporary and limited basis. The extension will cover measures taken from February 2026 that reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and thereby enhance Europe’s security and resilience.
The arrangement comes with defined fiscal guardrails. Within the existing cap of 1.5% of GDP for additional defence spending under the national safeguard clause, a specific annual ceiling of 0.3% of GDP for the period 2026 to 2028 will apply, along with a cumulative ceiling of 0.6% of GDP for the same period, specifically allocated to energy resilience measures. The Commission has emphasised that all fiscal sustainability safeguards remain fully in place.
Caution alongside the celebration
Giorgetti was careful to frame Wednesday’s announcement in broader terms, noting that any assessment must also take into account the latest Commission estimates and the recommendations addressing Italy’s public finances. This was an implicit acknowledgement of ongoing concerns about Italy’s deficit position. Italy’s high inherited debt has been a recurring theme in Giorgetti’s public statements throughout the negotiations, with the minister warning that the concrete risk of rising interest rates requires the government to remain prudent and responsible in its decisions.
The precise modalities for Italy’s use of the newly extended clause have yet to be finalised, with the ministry indicating it will set out targeted proposals for households and businesses once the parameters are confirmed.
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