Italy is 'perfect example' on gas says von der Leyen

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 7 - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday hailed Italy's efforts to wean itself off its reliance on Russian gas following the invasion of Ukraine.
    "Italy is one of the countries hit hardest by Russian blackmail on gas and it is a perfect example of the capacity to manage and compensate the fact that Putin has cut exports via gas pipelines by 80% in the last eight months," von der Leyen said at Milan's Bocconi University.
    "Italy has been able to reduce the gas it imports (from Russia) from 40% to 10% (of the total) thanks to an impressive effort to diversify supplies".
    She said that, with European gas stocks 96% full, the continent was "safe for this winter" in relation to energy supplies.
    She added that first effects of Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP, or PNNR in Italian) could already be seen.
    The NRRP seeks to make the Italian economy more modern and Greener thanks to almost 200 billion euros in EU grants and low-interest loans as part of the post-COVID NextGenerationEU programme.
    "Italy is receiving over 190 euros for investments and reforms and it has already received almost 67 billion of that," she said.
    "The impact is starting to be clearly visible". (ANSA).