EU governments have suffered from corporate capture of state interests. This state capture is in turn leveraged by authoritarian states such as Russia and China against EU member states. Can any European government afford to just rely on the advice of CEO’s well-connected to authoritarian regimes? While Germany has begun belatedly and hesitantly to assess the level of damage their Russian energy dependence has had on its security, Italy, by contrast, appears so far to be taking few steps to recognise the damage that its long running energy relationship with Russia has had on its broader interests.
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