The progress made at the European Council in the EU enlargement process satisfies Giorgia Meloni, especially with regard to Bosnia and Herzegovina (a country for which the Italian government spent a lot of effort in negotiations). But the same cannot be said about the issue of budgetary review, where a definitive agreement is still missing, and above all about the issue of the Stability Pact, an issue that was not addressed during the Brussels summit, but which was discussed, and has been for a long time, in the marginal interlocutions. For these reasons, at the end of the European mission, the Italian Prime Minister spoke of a “chiaroscuro” Council. It is certainly not a beaming Meloni who appears in front of reporters at the Europa Building and the reason is easy to see. «We were unable to find a solution regarding the review of the multi-annual budget, although a solution, in my opinion, is within our reach. I am not pessimistic about the fact that this can be achieved at the next European Council», explains the Palazzo Chigi resident, outlining an initial assessment of the summit.
In the compromise proposal on the mid-term review of the 2021-27 MFF agreed by the 26 at the European Council last night and blocked by Hungary’s veto, it is planned to allocate 9.6 billion euros to the “migration and external dimension” chapter. and 1.5 billion for Step (Strategic Technologies Platform for Europe), the program that is what remains of the European Commission’s project to create an EU sovereign wealth fund, first announced and then abandoned. But the real cornerstone of the Brussels summit was the Stability Pact. The reform of the Pact “was not the subject of the Council’s work” but, says the prime minister, “there were discussions on the sidelines” in these days of negotiations. The topic “is postponed to Ecofin on December 20th”, continues the Prime Minister, admitting that “the positions are still quite far apart”. Before the Senate, Meloni raised the fear of the Italian veto, but today, when asked about this option, the Prime Minister’s statements take on a less ‘warlike’ tone: “I don’t want to put it that way” because “it’s not a good way of seeking syntheses with others… I said it in Parliament and I repeat: the only thing I cannot do is give my approval to a Pact that neither I, nor any Italian government, could respect. Because it would be unfair and it wouldn’t be useful for us.”
The objective is “to obtain a Pact that offers us the conditions to do our work seriously”, insists the founder of Fdi, who this morning also met with the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, before work began: «We are not asking for a modification of the Pact to throw money out the window, we are asking for a modification that allows us to do what we believe is the right thing to do and that Europe has presented as a strategy – I am talking about investments – without be affected as a result. Because it would be a short-sighted strategy: but not for Italy, for Europe.” The obstacle for Rome to overcome is the penalty line defended by Germany and the frugal countries, with the Netherlands in the lead. An ally of Italy in the negotiations is, however, Emmanuel Macron’s France, which had a long conversation with Meloni on Wednesday night at the Hotel Amigo in Brussels, which was also joined by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Meloni also claims his role as mediator with Orbán , who yesterday decided to put the weapon of veto on the start of Ukraine’s accession negotiations to the EU in the drawer by abandoning the meeting on the occasion of the vote. A choice that therefore allowed the remaining 26 countries to approve the turning point in the approach to Kiev to Europe. With the Hungarian Prime Minister, Meloni comments: “I did exactly what I said I would do. You are much more useful when you can talk to everyone and when you look for a meeting point.” The head of the Budapest government, among other things, is looking for a new European family after saying goodbye to the EPP (which wanted to remove him). A welcome destination could be the Ecr group, which is part of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party, of which Meloni is president. Orbán’s excessively pro-Putin line currently represents an obstacle to his possible position in the ECR, but if the Hungarian prime minister softened his positions the situation could change, says the euro-conservative group.
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.
