“Italy’s voice in Europe will be strong: we are ready to face the big issues, starting with the energy crisis, working for a quick and effective solution to support families and businesses and put an end to the speculation,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on Twitter on Thursday morning. The trip of the 45-year-old sovereignist leader, who is committed to defending Italian interests above all, will be closely followed in a climate of concern about the possible turbulence that could arise between her government and the European authorities. .
“A Europe invading on the little things”
“Brussels should not be concerned with what Rome can do better”, she believes in a book of interviews to be published on Friday, castigating “a Europe that is intrusive on the small things and absent on the big issues” . For her first trip abroad since her appointment – she briefly spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on October 23 in Rome – she will meet Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and the head of the European parliament Roberta Metsola.
His face-to-face with Ursula von der Leyen will be the first since the outcry provoked in Italy by the remarks of the President of the Commission, who had warned before the elections in the peninsula against the consequences to which the Italy in the event of deviation from democratic principles.
But the first female head of government in Italy, at the head of the most right-wing government since the post-war period, was to arrive in Brussels without warlike intentions, according to political scientist Lorenzo Codogno: “Meloni is pragmatic and wants to be perceived as a moderate leader,” he told AFP. The one who leads the third economy in the euro zone should emphasize the urgency of European measures to reduce energy prices, a fight already started by her predecessor Mario Draghi.
Continuity with Draghi
“Discussions will focus on energy (…) the most pressing problem as winter approaches,” said Mr. Codogno, for whom Ms. Meloni will seek to demonstrate continuity with the Draghi government by demanding solutions ” at EU level”. The former head of the European Central Bank (ECB) had joined other countries in calling for solutions to the energy crisis to be found at European level rather than through the individualistic approach adopted by Berlin , much criticized by its partners.
This trip should have “no immediate practical consequences”, the Roman daily Il Messaggero ruled on Thursday, adding that it should allow Ms. Meloni to assess “the prospects” for European aid to her country. European leaders hope for their part to seize the opportunity to “better understand Meloni’s intentions”, analysis for AFP Sébastien Maillard, director of the Jacques Delors Institute. “Beyond the messages of appeasement” on Rome’s anchoring in the Western world and in NATO and its distancing from fascism, “it ultimately remained rather vague about what it wants to do”.
European leaders should be careful to avoid pushing Ms Meloni into the camp of their two nationalist pet peeves, Poland and Hungary. A clash over the European post-pandemic recovery fund, of which Italy is the main beneficiary with around 200 billion euros, is unlikely, even if Ms Meloni has said she wants to obtain “adjustments” to take into account the increase in energy prices, and these adjustments had to be negotiated at the “technical” level, according to Mr. Codogno.
For Sébastien Maillard too, “on economic subjects, it has no interest in opening a front with Brussels”. “If it came out of European nails, it would be against Italian interests,” he says. But it will be difficult for Brussels to avoid a confrontation over immigration, a favorite theme of the far right in Italy, which is one of the main gateways for migrants in Europe.