Giorgia Meloni, EU Maverick

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni rises as the opposition leader and voice of reason within the EU.

Thomas Kolbe | March 21, 2026

In the debate over the future of the EU carbon trading system, the EU commission is playing for time. For Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, this offers an opportunity to rise as the opposition leader and voice of reason within the EU.

Giorgia Meloni is a political chameleon. Charitably, one might describe her as a bridge-builder -- between Italy’s national interests, European policy, and the Union’s integration with global power centers.

Her proximity to the U.S. government provided reassurance at the height of the tensions between Brussels and Washington.

Yet her zigzag approach on the Ukraine war -- sometimes acting as a force for dialogue, other times siding with the war faction – raises fresh questions.

As the leader of the EU’s third-largest economy, she wields political leverage that could make her a dangerous counterweight to Brussels’ centralizers. The ostentatious transfer of Italy’s gold reserves from the national central bank to the custody of the state can be interpreted as a provocation against Brussels. Is Rome preparing for a currency crisis emergency and positioning a gold-backed currency?

Von der Leyen can consider herself fortunate that the European commentary scene pays little attention to such details -- and that many journalists hang on her every word as she waxes poetic about the charms of green policy and the EU Green Deal success story.

And this is precisely where it gets interesting.

At Thursday’s EU Council meeting, alongside the escalating Iran conflict, questions about the EU carbon mechanism (ETS) were on the agenda. The exploding energy prices are not just a problem for Europe’s businesses and consumers.

From the commission’s perspective, they represent a super-disaster, exposing the catastrophic consequences of the green transformation -- previously masked by media narratives, moralizing, and generous subsidies -- in glaring public light.

The daily mounting pressure on the economy has made the fractures within the EU’s political fabric painfully clear. On one side stands the faction of climate policy opponents, fronted unmistakably by Italy’s prime minister.

Last week, she called for a fundamental reform -- or even the abolition -- of the emissions trading system, pointing out that the CO2 mechanism is economically destructive and politically unsustainable.

She now leads a growing opposition bloc, joined openly by Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Greece. It almost seems as if Rome has realized that it may be politically advantageous to confront Brussels precisely at this moment -- at the provisional peak of multiple crises.

On the other side of the European schism are the stewards of Brussels’ zigzag course. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attempted Thursday, at the sidelines of the meeting, to lightly flank and dismiss the opposition’s critique of the ETS.

“We have noted the criticism, and relief measures are already in place,” said Merz. It is the old EU playbook: a regulatory framework is established that centralizes power in Brussels, threatens sanctions, and buys consent through subsidies -- money extracted from European taxpayers.

Either openly through contributions and tax burdens or covertly via this vehicle: CO2 taxation.

Yet we must assume that the monstrous Green Deal vehicle, which in its countless subsidies, price controls, and fund allocations became the nucleus of Brussels’ power, will be defended by those who benefit from it. Naturally, alongside the ever-more powerful EU bureaucracy, numerous corporations cling like dependents to public funds -- the taxpayers’ allocations.

These include companies such as Danish wind turbine giant Ørsted, a world leader in offshore wind, and Signify, the multinational lighting company behind the Philips brand, which have publicly supported and defended the Green Deal in the media.

Thursday’s EU Council meeting once again offered the opportunity to study the commission’s media and delay tactics live and in color. 

In truth, the EU train continues on its predetermined track. The crisis is used as an opportunity to further increase debt, providing fresh cheap credit to patronage industries to stabilize them for the time being.

In the Ukraine conflict, von der Leyen currently enjoys easier media conditions. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico are holding the €90 billion credit for continuation of the war under veto in light of the escalating energy conflict with Kyiv. Above all, Orbán embodies the villain in the European media sphere. Meloni, the perennial rival, stays discreet but uses Thursday’s EU Council meeting to reiterate her call for a return to a rational border regime in case of a new migration wave. She counts, among others, on Denmark, a social-democratic country, to support her.

One can sense that even outside WhatsApp groups of conservative patriotic forces, the cracks in the firewall are becoming visible -- economic and domestic pressures bind the affected parties together. And they need leaders and spokespersons to publicly represent their interests and arguments. Giorgia Meloni is steadily and skillfully positioning herself for this role. Will she emerge as the big winner in the EU’s looming crisis?

The Italian leader also demonstrated domestic leadership this week by temporarily cutting fuel taxes by €0.25 per liter, providing immediate relief.

Giorgia Meloni is currently the dominant and most visible political force in the EU. Her fight against climate policy and the open borders regime signals above all within Italy’s domestic political sphere a return to national sovereignty -- a desire many Europeans harbor but dare not speak aloud.

In foreign policy, with Brussels in mind, Meloni uses the Ukraine conflict to demonstrate her ability to build consensus. The moment Italy aligns with those advocating Russia’s reintegration into the European energy mix, like Belgian Bart De Wever, and a long-term normalization of relations with Moscow, the break with Brussels is complete.

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