The Guardian view on Merz and Meloni: an emerging Berlin-Rome axis is threatening the EU’s green deal

<p>The deregulation agenda being pushed by Germany’s chancellor and Italy’s prime minister is economically and ethically flawed</p><p>When the European Union <a href="https://www.iiea.com/events/europes-climate-goals-an-agenda-for-prosperity-and-security?gad_source=1&amp;amp;gad_campaignid=1065244934&amp;amp;gbraid=0AAAAAD30q8AIckf_703bGazpkF1tumcR5&amp;amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAhtvMBhDBARIsAL26pjEPlcZLMLa_VWb3zlDt6I61wpwP2Mzn2lz_jnNFqVELF72sUTRHyeQaAma9EALw_wcB">launched</a> its green deal in 2019, putting into law the goal of climate neutrality by the middle of the century, it showed strategic foresight as well as global leadership. Russia’s war in Ukraine has starkly <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/where-does-the-eu-s-gas-come-from/">underlined</a> the extent to which the continent’s energy security – and its future prosperity – is dependent on the transition away from fossil fuels. Lately, however, EU leaders’ environmental approach appears to be echoing the youthful St Augustine’s plea on <a href="https://www.ctsbooks.org/st-augustines-battle-with-chastity/?srsltid=AfmBOoqdGVHmCgsKjbQg5xEqGL0DrXsixMbH52INluPLXMiGlaDf04PK">chastity</a>: make us greener, but not yet.</p><p>The recent European Industry Summit in Antwerp made unusually big headlines thanks to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s xenophobic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/12/guardian-view-on-sir-jim-ratcliffe-britain-does-not-need-political-lectures-from-a-billionaire-tax-exile">outburst</a> over immigration. But it was also notable for fierce <a href="https://www.indianchemicalnews.com/policy/europe-must-act-now-to-save-chemical-industry-from-unsurvivable-market-pressures-sir-jim-ratcliffe-29362">attacks</a> on one of the most important pillars of EU environmental policy. The bloc’s emissions trading system (ETS) – which