Energy, Food, and Europe’s Strategic Blind Spot – La7
I joined La7’s Coffee Break with Andrea Pancani to discuss Europe’s energy challenges. But the real issue goes beyond gas: Europe risks focusing on the wrong priority.
Watch the full episode here.
Energy, Food, and Europe’s Strategic Blind Spot
Europe’s energy debate is often framed as ideological. It is not. It is mathematical. The EU consumes significantly more energy than it produces and must therefore import it. In this context, even politically sensitive options, such as reconsidering Russian gas, enter the discussion not as preferences but as constraints.
The real question is not whether Europe should import energy, but how. Without a coherent strategy, the risk is clear: fragmented decisions, high costs, and new forms of dependency. Energy security cannot be managed in permanent emergency mode. It requires diversification, technological innovation, and, above all, political coordination.
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This is where Europe’s structural weakness becomes visible. The current institutional framework, also reflected in the renewed Stability Pact, remains a compromise among 27 Member States. Necessary, yes. Sufficient, no. It sets rules, but does not yet provide the strategic agility needed in a rapidly changing geopolitical environment. Europe continues to react more than it leads.
Yet, while energy dominates the debate, a more fundamental issue remains largely overlooked: food security.
We tend to assume that food will always be available. This is a mistake. Countries like Italy are not food self-sufficient. They are strong in transformation, not in primary production. This means they depend on global supply chains for essential inputs.
What happens when those supply chains are disrupted? Where are the strategic reserves?
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The agri-food sector has so far absorbed rising costs, energy, logistics, raw materials, often without fully passing them on to consumers. But this resilience has limits. Ignoring it is a policy risk.
Europe needs to start thinking about calories the way it thinks about energy: as a matter of security. This implies building reserves, strengthening supply chains, and coordinating with neighboring regions, particularly across the Mediterranean.
We can choose to fly less. We cannot choose to eat less.
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That is where the real strategic conversation should begin.
Energy, Food, and Europe’s Strategic Blind Spot – La7
