BRUSSELS – It is not a day of victories, it is above all to avoid defeats. Mario Draghi he understands this when the Twenty-Seven screw up to battle over the fate of migrants. The order of the interventions has long since jumped, each country relaunches. The press conference has been postponed for at least three hours. In the middle there ends Italy, attacked by the hawks of the North on the weakest flank, that of the secondary movements. For years they have criticized the fact that Rome has difficulty in controlling the immigrants who land on our shores and then cross the borders. In the first draft of the final document, this dynamic is cited, condemning it. It is up to the premier, together with others, to mediate. He also proposes to move a comma to change the meaning of a sentence, he tries to take Italy out of the corner. «Mario to the rescue», one of the leaders eases the tension, «Mario comes to the rescue».
“No money for the walls.” Brussels divided on migrants
by our correspondent Claudio Tito
Especially of himself, to tell the truth. The reform of migrants has stalled, postponed until a later date. The Commission’s proposal to finance the priority countries from which the flows originate – in order to contain them – is still to be worked out. In short, the Italian government cannot accept even a blow on secondary movements. “In the original text there was no point of the balance between responsibility and solidarity”, recalls Draghi. With the correction, it becomes clear that the redistribution from the countries of first landing is as good as the stop to secondary movements. “For a strange heterogenesis of the ends – he notes – what should have been a paragraph on the financing of the walls does not contain this possibility, but opens a window on the discussion around the asylum and migration pact, which has been stopped for a year”.
There is also more. The anti-migrant barriers requested by Eastern Europe will not be paid for by Brussels: «It is not true that there is an opening to financing. The Commission disagrees. And even at the European Council many, including us, do not support this possibility ». For the rest, however, little moves and almost everything has yet to happen.
The prime minister discusses it with Macron, half an hour before the plenary, after reading that the Figaro headline on the “Dragons Revolution”. They both know that the Union is living in a complex phase, weakened by the sovereignties of Eastern Europe and weakened by the German stalemate. At least on one point, the Italian premier thinks he can have an impact together with the French President: to move the Commission. Pull it, push it forward despite the German “vacatio”. The Stability Pact needs to be changed, “we have a year to work on it – he says – also because more than one doubts that it will work well today …”. And the reform of migrants has to be worked out. If it is now frozen, let us at least act in identifying the priority countries to which the resources will then be distributed. Obviously, he especially cares about Tunisia and Libya.
There are also negotiations on the Italian front to occupy the mind of the premier. He talks about it at a press conference, when asked about pensions. First of all, he claims that the age of Quota 100 is buried forever: “The important thing is to keep fixed the fact that it will not be renewed”. He then suggests that mediation over a two-year period at Quota 102 and 104, which the Lega and the unions do not like, is not a closed package: “Now we need to ensure a gradual transition towards normality”.
The final proposal will arrive next week with the budget law, but the Carroccio already opens at Altitude 102. Another decree will be passed next Tuesday and will contain measures to remove some of the impediments to the implementation of the NRP. It has been expected for a while, but according to the head of the executive there are no delays: “We have always respected the appointments.” And the competition law will eventually come, too, after several slips.
“By the end of October,” he assures. In the middle of the afternoon, the former banker hears on the phone Silvio Berlusconi. The sovereignists of Italy are certainly not loved by the popular Europeans, it is possible that the Knight has touched the mistrust of his allies at the EPP summit. Certainly, when they ask Draghi about Matteo Salvini and any stomach ache in Brussels, the premier is clear. “They didn’t ask me for anything. And in any case, no one has doubts that this government is pro-European ”.
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