Italy's outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi warned his successor against protectionist and euro-skeptic policies that would weaken the country's economy and international standing.
Giorgia Meloni, the frontrunner ahead of Sept. 25 elections, is working hard to present herself as a credible leader for Italy, the third-biggest economy in the euro area. But the post-fascist roots of her party, as well as the euro-skeptic and pro-Russia stances of some of the members of her right-wing coalition, are worrying investors.
Meloni herself has often called for more state intervention in the economy even as her country wrestles with rising inflation, slowing economic momentum and a huge debt burden.
“Protectionism and isolationism are against the national interest,” Draghi told a conference in the northern city of Rimini. Despite the “sovereign impulses that only recently were pushing to exit the euro, Italy has never been strong when it decided to go it alone.”
Read More: Italy's Election Rivals Spar Over Energy in First Debate
Draghi defended his government's record, including efforts to cut Italy's imports of Russian gas to about half of a pre-war level of 40%. The installation of two floating terminals for liquid natural gas, despite mounting local opposition, is crucial to reduce imports from Russia to zero by fall 2024 as planned, he said. Energy is one of the key issues on which rival parties are campaigning.
“It is a fundamental national security objective, as Russia hasn't hesitated to use gas as a geopolitical weapon against Ukraine and its European allies,” Draghi said. “Unlike other European countries, Russian gas supplies to Italy are less and less significant, and their possible interruption would have less of an impact than it would have had in the past.”
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