“Food and energy crisis alarm. Investing in bilateral agreements with Maghreb countries to guarantee supplies and security "
“The war in Ukraine places Italy, and the European Union as a whole, in front of one of the most serious humanitarian, security, energy, economic crises, but above all food crises. According to FAO, 13 million more people could go hungry between 2022 and 2026 as a result of the war. We must not forget that Ukraine is the fourth largest foreign supplier of food to the European Union - it sends us about half of our imports of maize, a quarter of our vegetable oils. Just today Coldiretti raised the drought alarm with the arrival of African heat in great anticipation for the spring sowing of rice, sunflower, corn and soybeans, but also for the crops of wheat, other cereals and fodder sown in autumn, and for vegetables and fruit. Today's speech by President Draghi draws attention to the role of the Maghreb countries on which I have insisted since the beginning of this conflict ”.
Thus in a note Senator Marinella Pacifico (Coraggio Italia, Mixed Group), secretary of the Schengen, Europol and Immigration Parliamentary Committee, on the sidelines of the Conference on the Mediterranean, adding: "The reduction in imports of fossil fuels from Russia makes it inevitable that the 'Italy looks to the Mediterranean, in particular to those Maghreb countries that can offer alternative energy sources, such as Algeria, Libya and Tunisia, our strategic partners. I agree with President Draghi on the need to invest in bilateral agreements. We must focus on submarine electric cables to transfer electricity from North Africa to Italy and Europe ".
It is essential - continues the senator of Coraggio Italia, president of the Union of Friendship Italy - Tunisia in the UIP context - to invest in inter-connectivity plans in which Italy is the protagonist, in synergy with companies and associations to create a single electricity network for the countries bordering the Mare Nostrum. Terna announced last December that it was ready to set up the Thyrrenian link, the maxi project that will connect Campania, Sicily and Sardinia. To complete the hoped-for geographical map of the Mediterranean electricity grid is Algeria, which could become a sort of 'electric battery' for Europe, connecting to Sardinia through a submarine cable with a capacity of 1000 megawatts ". Pacifico also indicates “the possibility of interconnections from Libya to Sicily, through the Submarine Sahara Green Cable Project, a project presented by some researchers from the University of Sabha, but whose realization still depends on the country's stability. All these programs, taking into account climate change and above all the geopolitical framework that has suddenly become much more dangerous and uncertain, have an enormous advantage in terms of economic, employment and security of supply ”.