Government officials, elected and unelected, increasingly see democracy as an inconvenience, even an obstacle. How far down the current path does Europe have to go before the Italian example from a century ago becomes a case of retroactive clairvoyance?
At their July 26th meeting, energy ministers rejected the Commission’s initial plan for emergency powers but committed to reducing gas usage by 15% between 1 August 2022 and 31 March 2023—at least they did in theory.
The Commission wants to make member states save gas and then be able to redistribute the block’s overall supply as a response to the possibility of Russia cutting off Europe’s gas supplies.
