First ritual meetings, but different from traditional practice due to a different situation than usual. Europe awaits Giorgia Meloni, in Brussels for the “first” of her as a tenant from Palazzo Chigi.
There are contacts to be made and initiated, on both sides. Curiosity is certainly an element of the visit of the Prime Minister, an expression of a party that in Europe has always taken less enthusiastic positions and preached more sovereignty than Europeanism.
Even that “post-fascist” nature of the party of which he is leader is something that has not gone unnoticed outside Italy. Seen from the outside, Meloni is the person you need to get to know more than others, and in the EU institutions they are eagerly awaiting her.
Meloni first goes to the European Parliament, for an interview of about an hour with President Roberta Metsola. Following the Minister of European Affairs, Raffaele Fitto, until a few weeks ago MEP. Meloni presents himself with strong appointments that are well thought out in the end, and then move to the Commission. Here, whoever edited President von der Leyen’s agenda explains that on the table there are “all current issues of primary importance” to discuss and start working on.
There is energy and a response to the crisis with common strategies and means, and above all “support for Ukraine, which must continue”. This is the theme on which more reassurance is sought, also given the various outings by Silvio Berlusconi, an ally of Meloni, on Putin, Zelennsky, and the ongoing conflict. But we also need a guarantee on the sanctions imposed by the EU, on which the Northern League wing of the government has expressed some perplexity and hinted to consider a relaxation.
What Meloni must guarantee is also the continuity of the reform agenda negotiated by Mario Draghi. The tricolor one is the national recovery plan with the highest level of allocations in energy (27.9 billion) including interventions for energy efficiency, clean hydrogen, renewables, zero-emission mobility, reform of the electricity market, regulatory simplification for installation of photovoltaic panels.
And then there are the almost 31 billion euros to be invested in the South through the cohesion funds. While Meloni is expected in Brussels, from Riga the president of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, reminds us that the body for which she is responsible, alone, “cannot reduce the price” of energy. So “everyone has to do their job”. It means, translated, reforms. Those reforms already agreed.
Before the meeting with von der Leyen, one of the members of the college, Valdis Dombrovskis, was obliged to call on the accounts. He too was in Latvia at the same economic summit in which Lagarde attended. “Countries with a high debt should begin to focus on debt relief” the memo from the commissioner for an economy at the service of people. Which then clarifies. In reworking the stability pact and its rules (proposal expected for November 9, ed) “we are not recommending introducing budgetary stimuli to the economy”. It means no deviations, and no open taps. Another thing on which Meloni will have to give clear reassurances, especially at a time when a recession seems to materialize at the beginning of 2023, albeit a slight one.
On all this, Meloni’s European confrontation ends in face to face with Charles Michel, a way to begin to become familiar with those who preside over the top of the leaders. The President of the Council of Ministers comes precisely to be accredited as such. Reliable and credible leader and partner. A first round of meetings and discussions, to which the leaders of the EU institutions pay great attention.