The EU's cohesion funds, the bloc's financial instrument for reducing territorial disparities in its poorest regions, could be deployed to mitigate the impact of soaring energy prices, European Cohesion Commissioner Raffaele Fitto said in a letter to ministers on Thursday.
"It is critical to ensure these readily available EU funds are fully deployed in time to benefit the regions and communities that need them most, particularly in the context of the current energy price developments," reads the letter, seen by Euronews.
Fitto's letter comes as several EU countries, including his own Italy, have been grappling with the economic fallout from the War in Iran, which has driven up energy costs across Europe and beyond by disrupting Gulf supply routes.
The letter specifically notes that member states and regions can already direct funding toward energy-related investments, "for instance, by scaling up existing measures to support families and businesses, reducing energy consumption."
Fitto's argument echoes Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who last week sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling for energy security to be treated as a European strategic priority, and for the same fiscal flexibility recently extended to defence spending to apply to energy.
