Immigration, the Mediterranean and energy. These are the three issues that were at the center of attention of Giorgia Meloni yesterday in Brussels for the European Council, which opens with a “warm welcome” to the Italian Prime Minister by President Charles Michel. The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, during the EU summit during the debate on the Southern Neighborhood, highlights the importance of adopting a strategic vision by the EU for the countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. Italy recognizes the important potential of the countries in the region that can and must represent an opportunity for the Union, with which they share the same challenges, including migration and the issue of rising energy prices. On merit, the Prime Minister supports the Spanish proposal for an EU-Southern Neighborhood Summit during the Spanish Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2023. The Mediterranean is precisely the focus of a meeting between Meloni and the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the margins of the European Council. The cordial meeting confirms the close cooperation between Italy and Greece on the main issues central to the European and international agenda, with particular attention to stability and opportunities for growth in the Mediterranean. At the summit, there is a common interest in further deepening relations between Rome and Athens, also at the bilateral level.
With regard to migrants, however, during the European Council, Meloni underlined that migration cannot continue to be managed without a structural solution in Europe; a predatory approach to the migratory phenomenon must be avoided. “Migration is a central issue for Italy – says the Prime Minister during the debate -. A complex issue on which Member States sometimes have different views, but on which it is important to send a political signal and a clear commitment from the EU and, if necessary, also place the issue at the center of an ad hoc discussion summit”. Energy chapter. Meloni, in his speeches at the European Council, underlined the need to find a solution for the gas price reduction mechanism. price reduction mechanism is actually in contradiction with the discussion about the competitiveness of the European industry in relation to other global competitors. Meloni also highlights the need to respond promptly to the growing needs of families and companies. “I believe that the issue of the European response on energy is very political and not very technical”, explains Meloni, who on the consequences of the war in Ukraine and on energy issues met u – during the summit of the ECR conservatives before the European Council – Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Czech Prime Minister Peter Fiala.
The Minister of European Policies, Raffaele Fitto, for his part, highlights the role of Giorgia Meloni, “decisive” for Poland to give the green light to the minimum tax. “My statement – says Fitto at the press point on the sidelines of the European Council in Brussels – aims to underline the important result and the role played in the first Council by President Meloni and I am referring in particular to the release and agreement on the written procedure for the minimum tax and the global deal on Hungary, where I believe that President Meloni’s role must be underlined in a very important and positive way”. «There was also a meeting with the Prime Ministers of the Conservative Party, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Fiala and the Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki. The three discussed this subject at length and I think it was a very important and decisive contribution to the development of one of the most important subjects of today’s meeting», adds Fitto.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
