Press

Is it really possible that Russian could impact the continent's energy security by simply turning off the gas tap? In theory, yes, says Ian Bond, director of foreign policy and a Russia expert at the Centre for European Reform. "But that goes in both directions. The question is whether the EU will freeze before the Russians run out of money," he adds. After all, the Russian economy – around the same size as Spain's – is highly dependent on selling gas and oil to Europe.

“It was a mixture of both sides talking past each other,” said Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, as well as the UK being afraid “to the point of absurdity” of anything that sounded like freedom of movement. “Eventually, it got deprioritised,” he added.

"Draghi's emphasis will be on firefighting," Dr Luigi Scazzieri, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER), told Euronews. "First is making sure that the vaccination campaign picks up speed. Second is ensuring that Italy's economy recovers quickly, by spending the money from the EU's recovery fund in ways that maximise potential growth."

But "it is difficult to overstate the scale of the challenges that Draghi and Italy face", said Luigi Scazzieri, of the Centre for European Reform.

“Draghi is like a deus ex machina figure,” said Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform. “But reforming the Italian [system] is very, very difficult.”

But "it is difficult to overstate the scale of the challenges that Draghi and Italy face", said Luigi Scazzieri, of the Centre for European Reform. ..."But spending funds is not enough," noted Mr Scazzieri, adding that the new premier "will find it just as challenging to enact long-called for reforms".

Christian Odendahl and Yiannis Mouzakis argue that Greece could use the money to fix issues in its economy that have plagued the country since its debt crisis.