“We can confirm that the issue of immigration is now considered central, something unthinkable even a few months ago, if you like, and that it is being followed step by step by the Council. And this is excellent news», declared the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, upon arrival at the European Council. Again on the immigration issue: “I expect steps forward.” She underlined before the meeting with EU leaders, a meeting in which “the migrant dossier will be updated with a report from the President of the Commission that will report on concrete steps based on the conclusions of last February”.
Meloni says she is satisfied. “I can say that I am satisfied with the draft conclusions, with the latest version that is circulating, which incidentally asks the Commission to proceed quickly and sends a verification status of these measures to the next European Council”, she explained. He then also responds to the alleged controversy with the League government’s allies. “Frankly, they don’t worry me,” he told reporters. “In addition to the expressed positions, the call to continue working towards a solution to the conflict, which we all obviously work for, is about realizing what is really useful at the end of the conflict”.
On Ukraine: “I said what I think: in the current context there is no more effective measure than guaranteeing a balance between the forces in the field. The only way to force, if you want, a negotiation that has to be fair, you cannot ignore who is the aggressor and who is being attacked», he added, «I am not worried because I care, as I have said many times, in true. And in fact in this, on the Italian line which is a very clear line, I never had any problems». Meanwhile, the maneuver in search of allies continues. “I am now seeing Prime Minister Morawiecki, I am planning a meeting with the Greek Prime Minister, perhaps also extended to other countries, in particular on governance issues and I am in contact with Emmanuel Macron, let’s see”.
In his speech at the summit, Meloni thus underlined the need for a global intervention that takes into account the “geopolitical shocks” and their effects on the southern neighbourhood. What happens in Ukraine has consequences for Mali and Tunisia. And precisely on the recent Tunisian crisis, the prime minister invited her counterparts to intervene, releasing the funds also with the cooperation of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. To further complicate the picture, “the growing Russian presence in the Sahel” is seen as an element that favors the migration crisis. The President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recognized the need to “increase the number of entries of workers from third countries” and cited “in this regard, the extremely positive experience of Italy with the humanitarian corridors”.
Indeed, the work done so far by the European Commission is being scrutinized at the leaders’ table, the thirty-point plan of action anticipated by von der Leyen in the letter to twenty-seven. “The conclusions will clarify the request to proceed with speed with the implementation of this plan and to report at the next summit, in June, on the progress made”, explain diplomatic sources. So the Prime Minister hopes that the times of austerity are a thing of the past. “It would be tragic for us to go back to previous parameters, so we need governance that is more attentive to growth and not just stability. There are some steps forward but we still have a lot of work to do,” explained Meloni. “In these matters there are always quite different views”, admitted the prime minister referring to the positions of the so-called frugal. “I think that the European Union must learn from its mistakes, from the past, from the reality we face. Today, important investments are being asked for the ecological and digital transition, for strategic supply chains, another choice for which the lack of attention that existed in the past is changing. It cannot be thought that the investments needed to make our system competitive are not taken into account in governance”, highlighted the official.
The conclusions of the meeting state that the European Council strongly condemns sexual and gender-based violence. Russia must immediately ensure the safe return of Ukrainians, especially children, deported or forcibly transferred to Russia.
In this context, the European Council takes note of the arrest warrants recently issued by the International Criminal Court against the Russian President and his Commissioner for the Rights of the Child for the war crime of illegally deporting and transferring Ukrainian children from the occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.
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.
