A signal that goes beyond Italy

When history moves, it often does so in silence. So, while the political spotlight remains on climate disputes and cheap ‘green’ fashions, a sign of reversal comes from Italy: the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security has unblocked 34 oil and gas extraction licences that had been frozen since 2022. This goes far beyond national borders.

The return of Eni, Shell and Energean to the Italian seas is not just industrial news – it is a political act, a strategic message. Europe has finally understood that without energy there is no sovereignty, and without sovereignty there is no freedom.

The lesson of addiction

For the past fifteen years, the European continent has built its prosperity on theillusion of managed dependency: cheap Russian gas, supplies from North Africa, and an industrial system fuelled by resources from illiberal regimes. The result was a gigantic geopolitical miscalculation. When Moscow turned off the taps, Europe discovered that it was not only vulnerable, but disarmed.

The war in Ukraine, the conflicts in the Middle East and African instability have made clear what many liberal and conservative analysts have been arguing for years: energy autarky is impossible, but dependence on hostile countries is suicidal.

A test case for the West

In this context, the Italian decision is a test case for theentire West.

Europe cannot continue to flaunt the ‘ecological transition’ while on the one hand importing liquefied gas from the United States – an ally and partner, but at higher costs and with less predictability – and on the other hand continuing to buy coal and oil from authoritarian countries that finance wars, corruption and terrorism.

A sustainable energy policy is not born from the rejection of reality, but from the ability to govern it.

Drilling today means reaffirming that the West wants to remain free, competitive and technologically advanced, reducing its economic vulnerability without weakening political unity among democracies.

Sustainability and realism

The progress made by companies such as Eni, Shell and Energean shows that it is possible to combine energy security and environmental responsibility. Modern platforms reduce emissions, use satellite monitoring technologies and minimise the impact on the sea and soil. Continuing to oppose it on ideological grounds is not environmentalism: it is degrowth masquerading as virtue.

Every cubic metre of gas extracted in the Adriatic or the North Sea is one cubic metre less purchased from Moscow or Algiers. It is a tangible, concrete form of freedom based on industrial responsibility and strategic dignity.

Because a Europe that delegates its energy to authoritarian regimes renounces its ability to decide, to grow and, ultimately, to defend itself.

Transition needs solid foundations

Of course, the energy transition remains a legitimate and necessary goal. But the road to a renewable future passes through the security of the present. Without a solid base of domestic – or at least Western – gas and oil, no green technology will be truly scalable. Renewables need a stable grid, raw materials and resources that only an autonomous energy supply chain can guarantee.

The idea that we can divest ourselves of gas or oil in a few years without real alternatives is a dangerous fantasy, andEurope has already paid dearly for it.

The New Western Realism

The return of the drill, therefore, is not a return to the past, but a step towards the future. It is a recognition that energy sovereignty is an integral part of democratic sovereignty. While China invests heavily in nuclear power and African supplies, and Russia binds with Asia in a new alliance of autocracies, the West must rediscover the value of its material independence.

A continent that does not produce its own energy will also end up importing its own political decisions.

Returning to drilling does not mean abandoning the environment, but getting rid of thehypocrisy of those who preach sustainability by buying oil from the Persian Gulf.

It means defending freedom of choice, industrial autonomy and the security of our open societies. It is, in other words, an act of Western self-determination. The drills that will be working again in the Italian seas and the North Sea are not symbols of the past: they are the tools of a new realism. Because energy independence is today the most concrete and urgent form of political freedom.