From the revision of the PNRR to energy, from the reform of the Stability Pact to migrants and the supremacy of EU law over national law: there are many open dossiers between Italy and the EU that Giorgia Meloni’s new government will have to deal with. On the afternoon of Thursday 3 November, the President of the Council will meet in Brussels the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who, as soon as the right-wing center government took office, said she was “impatient” to meet the new Italian Prime Minister. The appointment was organized in record time as well as the other two meetings scheduled for the same day, those with the President of the EU Parliament Roberta Metsola and the one with the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
Meloni is president of the ECR, the party of European Conservatives and Reformists that brings together parties of the right and far right, including the Polish Law and Justice, the Spanish Vox and the Swedish Democrats. His bond with Hungarian Prime Minister Orban is strong. He has said and written a lot about an Italy-Poland-Hungary “axis”. The Italian Prime Minister speaks of a European Superstate, criticized the fact that much of the decision-making power is in the hands of the Commission: they are all elements of convergence with Poland and Hungary. Brothers of Italy argued that the primacy of European law over national law must be reviewed. These are positions, albeit not in the majority, which are found in many other countries. The fact is, in any case, that being an important member – and influential given its economic and geopolitical weight on the continent – of the euro area for Italy, which derives stability from the single currency, must necessarily make a difference.
Here are, in summary, the main topics expected at the center of the confrontation between Meloni and EU interlocutors.
Pnrr, Italy asks to make changes
Italy asks to be able to modify the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the plan that implements Next Generation Eu (Italy is the first beneficiary). The EU has repeatedly stressed that the room for maneuver is very limited. “We have raised a question – underlined in the last few hours the Minister for European Affairs, Cohesion Policy and the PNRR, Raffaele Fitto -: the PNRR was approved before the outbreak of the war and provides for € 232 billion, 120 billions of public works. The increase in the cost of raw materials was quantified by Ance in 30/35% and therefore it is evident that these aspects already suggest a need that is not up to me now to propose as a declaration but which will be the subject of a serious comparison based on to the regulation which is envisaged at Community level with the European Commission “. The negotiation is still open.
Energy
It is important that the European Union has “a more incisive common energy policy and strategy”, underlined Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, who had flown to Berlin where he met the German Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Price cap, decoupling of energy from gas prices, reform of the TTF market, aid to businesses and citizens, the knots to be solved as soon as possible. Italy could benefit from the release of 4 billion EU structural funds not yet spent.