Three months ago, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni referred to the “Mattei plan” in her inaugural speech. This statement is meant for the Italian oil company Eni, the British daily Financial Times reported.
The Mattei plan, as its name suggests, refers to the late Enrico Mattei, an Italian oil industrialist and politician, who in the 1950s sought ways to support the development of natural resources in African countries in order to maximize economic growth as well as to guarantee energy independence in Italy.
Calling for the same strategy as Mattei in energy policy, Meloni plans to invest in companies in the sector instead of relying on Russian gas as Europe has chosen.
Meloni said that after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the question of energy independence is essential and Italy is called upon to recover “its strategic role in the Mediterranean”.
For Italian experts, the Italian oil company Eni, which has been present in 14 African countries since 1954, is better placed to implement the “Mattei plan”, while exploiting its commercial links and knowledge of the African continent in order to tackle the energy crisis in the region.