EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Saturday that EU countries would be able to use funds from national reconstruction plans to strengthen their capacity to use liquefied LNG. This is one of the ways in which EU countries become independent of Russian raw materials.

This element of the EU strategy to increase LNG imports was discussed by Gentiloni during the Economic Festival in Trento in northern Italy.

“Part of the reconstruction plan will serve the urgent tasks of the energy transition,” explained the EU commissioner. He drew attention to the provisions on assistance to EU countries related to liquefied gas. According to him, there needs to be “a common platform in Europe to avoid internal competition between countries”.

“We cannot put ecological transformation into a drawer. If we look at the problems related to energy dependence, the only way to solve them is to invest in renewable energy” – said Gentiloni. Admittedly, there is a problem with the slow process.

“You can’t wait a year for approval to install solar energy devices,” said the EU commissioner.

In his speech, the former Italian Prime Minister also stated: “We are heading towards a world where the European Union wants to bring positive values ​​and cannot fail to have the basic elements to defend its interests.”

“This – as he points out – is not against the alliance with the United States, because NATO is not a political or economic entity, but a defensive alliance against current threats.”

“The power of the European Union cannot fail to have a foreign or defense policy strategy. We are a peaceful power that the world needs,” added the Commissioner.

“Otherwise we will be spectators, never impartially, of tensions between the two world powers, and that is not a role that Europe can agree to,” Gentiloni said. He also expressed the opinion that “globalization is not dead”.