Giorgia Meloni received German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at Palazzo Chigi and both found themselves on the same wavelength: the old EU rules are out of date. Strategic interests are “converging” between the two nations, who intend to adopt an “Italy-Germany action plan” soon. He reaffirmed support for Ukraine and the need for new forms of cooperation with Africa.
“On the revision of the Stability Pact with Chancellor Scholz we agree that the old rules are outdated and that the new ones must take into account the competitiveness of our systems”, said the prime minister during joint statements to the press with Scholz, greeting this morning in the Palazzo Chigi of the honor guard. Waiting for the German leader, in the courtyard of the building that houses the presidency of the Council, the President of the Council. “In my opinion we need a new Stability Pact that looks a lot at support and growth, because European competitiveness needs to be supported by a vision and adequate rules”, he added.
The issue of migrants is also on the table. With Scholz “we don’t talk” about the two stopped NGOs, “but about how Italy, essentially alone, crosses the Mediterranean to save human lives”, said Meloni, underlining: “Germany knows that without Italy and the bordering nations it is very more difficult to have a European migration policy that works better than the current one. In the Council we have been working to overcome the opposition between primary and secondary movements, a paradigm shift on which there is great consensus and for that I thank Scholz. the issue of defending foreign borders, not combating human trafficking, distinguishing between who has the right to protection and who does not, it will be much more difficult to face a series of challenges”. “Migration flows have increased, the situation in Africa is very, very complex, there is a very unfavorable economic situation in which Italy is doing an objectively extraordinary job. But I believe that the great challenge is to do this work together”, said the Prime Minister. minister later underlined. With Scholz “we also talked about Tunisia. I’ve been there for the last few days and, as you know, we’ll be back on Sunday with President Von der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to open cooperation at the European level that serves to help a nation in difficulties” as well as “regulating migratory flows: a Tunisia in difficulty would mean a domino of new problems”.
“We want to strengthen and intensify bilateral dialogue also thanks to the Italy-Germany Action Plan on which we essentially reached an agreement and which we would like to adopt at the next intergovernmental summit to be held in Germany by the end of the year”, Meloni said again.
“I am confident that we will find a common European response to the challenges of refugees and migrants”, said Scholz, for his part, underlining that in today’s talks at Palazzo Chigi with Giorgia Meloni the issue of migrants was addressed, “an important issue for the Germany, Italy and Europe that the Ministers of the Interior in Luxembourg spoke about today”.
“We have to manage immigration to guarantee that there are legal corridors for qualified personnel, but that also means that those who do not have the right to remain must return to their country”, said German Chancellor Scholz, stating that for this it is also important “to have reliable collaboration with countries of origin and transit”.
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.
