Switzerland to secure gas from Italy in case of energy shortages

Italy and Switzerland signed an agreement on energy supply and rail transport on Thursday. Twitter of Matteo Salvini

Switzerland and Italy signed an agreement on energy supply to protect themselves from possible future gas supply bottlenecks.

This would help with securing gas “in the event of a supply shortage from Germany”, Swiss environment and energy minister Albert Rösti said in Rome.

Rösti was in the Italian capital on Thursday to sign two agreements on energy supply and cross-border rail transport with Italian ministers Matteo Salvini and Gilberto Pichetto Fratin.

Rösti and Pichetto Fratin, Italy’s environment and energy Security minister, signed a memorandum of understanding on the security of gas supplies, guaranteeing the implementation of a commercial agreement between the Swiss energy supply platform OpenEP and the Italian company ENI.

In return, Switzerland will not withdraw any gas flowing through Switzerland to Italy in case of an emergency. “We made the concession that we would not then block the line capacities for Italy and then divert the gas ourselves,” explained Rösti.

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This agreement would enable Switzerland to import gas through ENI if gas supplies from Germany were to be interrupted. As Swiss public television SRFExternal link explained, Switzerland does not have its own large gas storage facilities within the national borders, so it is often dependent on other countries, including Germany.

However, there is no legal security that the Alpine nation would get the gas in case of shortage. On top of this, earlier in January, Germany said that a proposed gas solidarity deal with Switzerland to come into effect in case of shortages, should have also included Italy. So, this new agreement with Italy gives additional legal protection to Switzerland.

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Swiss-Italian rail connections

Rösti also discussed strengthening cross-border rail transport with Italy and signed an agreement with Italy’s transport minister Matteo Salvini. This deal will lead to a development of rail infrastructure between the two countries by 2035 and it will encourage freight and passenger transport from road to rail. Rösti and Salvini have also agreed to simplify cross-border public transport.

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Italy’s minister said on Twitter that the new deal also reiterates the “importance combining investment in environmentally-friendly infrastructure with the development of the economy and territories.”