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Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated this at the UN summit at the FAO, on the occasion of her debut speech: her government’s goal is to set up “a non-predatory model of cooperation” with African countries, ensuring the “right not to have to emigrate”. Translated, a contrast to the boom in landings on the Italian coasts punctuated both by interventions on “trafficker networks” in the Mediterranean, and by a collaboration that stimulates the most fragile economies and removes the “causes” of the flows.
It is the same perspective formalized in the International Conference on Development and Migration which was held on 23 July at the Farnesina, in a summit which gathered the support of over 20 countries from sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, in addition to the president of the European Commission , Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
What is the “Process of Rome” wanted by Meloni
The summit, announced by Meloni herself on the occasion of the EU-Tunis agreement, resulted in the launch of the so-called Rome Process: a “platform of collective action”, to orchestrate a shared approach to migration policies. The details will be finalized along an “Action Plan” scheduled along various appointments in the second half of the year, such as the Italy-Africa conference in November (the one that will showcase the so-called Mattei Plan), the G20 meeting in India and the COP28 expected in the United Arab Emirates between November and December.
In the meantime, the conclusions of the summit and Meloni’s own words offer an overview of the political and financial framework of the “process” that the Meloni government is preparing for. On the political front, the ambition is to “defeat illegal immigration”, by initiating cooperation aimed at contrasting “trafficker organizations”, better management of migration flows, support for asylum seekers and “aid to countries of origin” . On the financial side, the “medium-term” objective is the creation of a fund financed by countries and organizations included in the process.
The crux of funding and the accusations about the model
The “priority lines of financing”, said Meloni, should concern “above all strategic investments, infrastructures, because that is the most lasting way of doing it, cooperation”. At the moment, the only tangible commitment is the 100 million euros announced by the UAE president Mohammed Bin Zayed, while the rest of the funding will have to be disbursed gradually based on the respective availability of the individual countries. Commission President von der Leyen said that the agreement signed in Tunis with President Kaïs Saïed should be a “model” for other agreements with “countries of the region”. An example that can rekindle the polemics between Brussels and Tunis, contested for the accusations of human rights violations and authoritarianism pending over Saïed. «The central theme of the agreements between Europe and Africa – said David Yambio, spokesman for the Refugees in Libya movement – should be respect for human rights. But that’s not how it is.”