(from correspondent Ileana Sciarra) – The photos in which she shows the G7 leaders the shots of the flood in Emilia Romagna soon go viral on the Net. And just as viral, if not more so, is the solidarity that Giorgia Meloni collects from the Grandi reunited in Hiroshima for a summit with a strong symbolic value. The premier anticipates his return to Italy, ‘loses’ the last day of the summit to be there where the fury of the rains and winds has brought an entire population to its knees, with the dramatic toll of 14 victims and 36,000 displaced. “I decided to go back to Italy“, “my conscience dictates it to me“, she says in a press conference convened when it is now past midnight in Hiroshima, before boarding the state flight that will take her there, where she now feels she must be, in Emilia Romagna. Meloni explains that the other leaders present at the summit have “understood and supported” his choice, including the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who traveled as far as Japan to be present at the summit on decisive and dramatic days for his land.
The news of the premier’s early departure on the timing of the G7 initially leaked from Japanese sources in the forefront of the organization of the summit. And, in fact, the Italian delegation leaves in the night to arrive in the land violated by bad weather already today, around lunchtime, the stages of the program will be dictated by the weather conditions and by the need not to interfere in the rescue operations. Meloni leaves Hiroshima undoubtedly tested by the tragedy that struck Italy and by the news arriving from Forlì, Cesena, Ravenna, Faenza and the other municipalities battered by bad weather, but satisfied with the results collected at the G7. Apart from the incident with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on LGBT rights – “I think he was the victim of fake news and I think he realized it”, Meloni will tell journalists – the solidarity hugs of Joe Biden and Zelensky remain in the news , the messages of Rishi Sunak, of Trudeau himself, of the number 1 of the European Council Charles Michel who assures that the EU “is ready to provide support in any way possible”, and of the French president Emmanuel Macron, whom he meets for 45 minutes the ‘cold’ that has been descending between Rome and Paris for months.
“The meeting went well – he tells journalists – as indeed our previous meetings went well. We tend to be very concrete, beyond the internal electoral campaign. We are two central nations in Europe, close on many dossiers “. Like the one on migration, decisive in the face-to-face with Macron, with which Meloni also addressed the Tunisia case, premising that Italy “cannot become a refugee camp”. About the default risk of Tunis, and the dramatic consequences on the migratory waves, Meloni also speaks with the director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva. “I’m optimistic”, she assures me at the press conference, there is the will “to let us play an important role”.
And Italy could also play a role in the so-called jet coalition, the coalition created to modernize the equipment and technical capacity of the Ukrainian air defense, starting with the supply of jets. “We don’t have F16s and therefore we will hardly be able to participate in this project – Meloni makes it clear -. The evaluation to be made together with the allies is that of possible training for Ukrainian pilots, but it is a decision that we have not taken and that is being discussing with the allies”. From which -he forcefully assures- he has not received any pressure on the so-called Silk Road.
Least of all from the States, says the prime minister, with whom the agreement appears complete, at least if you look at the images of this G7, which in an official photo even portrays the premier walking hand in hand with Biden. Meloni, who should be in Washington in a month, is vague with reporters on the date of the mission but confirms that he will be in the White House “before the summer”, as well as in Paris, for a bilateral agreement that actually proves the thaw with Macron.
The French President who next year, together with the other ‘Great’ of the planet, Meloni will host in Puglia, location of the G7 of 2024, as per the announcement arrived at the press conference. Puglia was chosen for its “symbolic value”, explains the Prime Minister, as “historically a bridge between East and West”. “In a summit in which the south will be central, we will bring the Greats to the south of Italy”.
But now it is the North that is calling, and “I can no longer stay away from Italy in such a complex moment – ‘responds’ Meloni – I need to work personally to give the necessary answers”. Which will arrive in a Council of Ministers which, as scheduled, will be held on Tuesday. Among the interventions that the prime minister aims to implement to deal with the emergency, there are “bureaucratic easing” and measures to “alleviate the burden on families and businesses” starting with the payment of taxes. To the first 10 million euros allocated in the last Council of Ministers, “absolutely insufficient”, another 20 will be added, which however – the Prime Minister makes clear – will not be destined to “start the reconstruction. Now we must stop this disaster, otherwise it is difficult to quantify” the damages. “The resources are there, there was also the willingness of the leaders, even some who are not here”, to lend a hand, “and this is not thanks to me but thanks to the role that Italy has in the world“. But now we have to wait for the rains to ease and the storm to stop hitting the north of the country. “Once the bad weather has stopped, we will be able to make an overall estimate and understand what interventions to do”.