Italian government head shows signs of cooperation with the EU on first official visit clouded by new migration crisis
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni launched her international agenda on Thursday with a high-level trip to Brussels. In just one day he met the main representatives of the European institutions: the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; the leader of the Council, Charles Michel; and the head of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. The appointment, a few days after being sworn in, is intended to appease the EU, which is concerned about the coming to power of the far right in one of its main powers.
«With this trip I wanted to dismantle certain stories of the Italian government face to face. We are not Martians. And on the other hand, I have also found people who want to listen,” Meloni said in statements to journalists. The Prime Minister was open to working with the Union to “address the big problems, from an Italian and also European perspective, starting with the energy crisis” and to seek “a quick and effective solution”.
The far-right leader has not yet made her debut at Council leaders’ meetings and in her speech to the Italian parliament she demanded the alliance with the EU and NATO while distanced herself from her pro-Russian positions. government partner, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
However, the EU does not rule out future tensions. Brothers of Italy, Meloni’s party, is committed to greater sovereignty of the European countries before Brussels. The first push could come from the change in its immigration policy, after the interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, assured that the country will no longer allow migrants rescued by NGOs from other countries to disembark at its ports.
Currently, more than 1,000 people on humanitarian ships in the Mediterranean are waiting for permission to land. After the minister’s rejection, Germany yesterday tried to get the Italian authorities to recap, asking them to admit the migrants, as their ports and Malta’s are the closest to the area where they were rescued. Berlin requested that at least take care of the children.
The European recovery funds will also be a bottleneck. Meloni suggested to the Italian Chamber that he wanted to renegotiate “adjustments” with the Community Executive to the plan that defines the reforms the government must implement to receive Next Generation aid.
The Community Executive responded to Meloni’s statements by stressing that all member states must abide by what is in their recovery plans. The agreed conditions are immovable, except in exceptional situations where governments demonstrate that they cannot achieve the stated goals. After meeting Meloni, von der Leyen thanked the “strong signal” of his visit to Brussels and the opportunity to discuss “critical issues”.
Source: La Verdad
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