A ‘two days’ in Andalusia, in Granada, to take part in the summit of the European Political Community – 44 countries, 27 EU member states and 17 partner countries – and, the following day, in the informal European Council. Giorgia Meloni will arrive in Spain today late in the morning, to participate – starting from 12.30 – in the plenary meeting in which the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will speak, in all likelihood in the presence (at the moment not confirmed for obvious security reasons). Before him, the ‘plenary’ of the EPC will see the interventions of the Spanish president Pedro Sanchez and the EU leaders: in fact, president Ursula Von der Leyen and Charles Michel will speak.
Immediately afterwards, four round tables will take place. The Prime Minister will speak at the one dedicated to digital and artificial intelligence: AI, in particular, is a topic that is particularly close to her heart and which could take her to London, in a summit on the topic, in the first days of November . At the end of the round tables, there will be room for bilateral discussions: tight lips at Palazzo Chigi over the Prime Minister’s ‘face to face’ meetings, eyes focused on the meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, while diplomats continue to work on the meeting.
A meeting that appears even more within reach after overcoming the impasse on the German amendment which had led to the halting of negotiations on the new pact on migration and asylum, an agreement signed today in Brussels and which will also end up on the table in Granada. The agreement – not definitive, the ‘ball’ in fact now passes to the European Parliament – was reached thanks to Germany’s decision to return to the text formulated in July, with a whitewash at every reference to operations conducted by NGOs. Meloni arrives in Granada convinced that there is still a long way to go, but thanks to a substantial step forward which she welcomes with satisfaction, after having demanded – in recent weeks with a letter addressed to Sanchez and Michel – that the informal European Council also the migrant issue on the agenda. Which will be addressed but will not be the only one on the table of the informal European Council on Friday, where the issues that have not yet reached ‘maturation’ will be discussed, in an informal discussion that can constitute fertile ground for finding agreements to be perfected then Brussels.
Among the topics that will be covered, post-Covid and the war in Ukraine, with an eye also on the next legislature. And again: European strategic autonomy, with the moves to be implemented to push it, reducing economic dependence on countries outside Europe. The strengthening of the defense industry is also on the table.
But Kiev is also one of the undisputed protagonists of the Granada summit, both because the war and its consequences will be discussed, and because among the issues at the center of the European Council which will be held on Friday there is also that of the enlargement of ‘Eastern Europe, with the spotlight on Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia: an opening to which Italy is no longer reluctant, as in the past, but which it looks upon favorably, despite the awareness that the process must be governed carefully : “we need to be ready”, explain diplomatic sources.
‘Being ready’ translates into deep reflection and certain rules also on the budget and funding front of the European Union. Just think of the funds for agriculture: if Ukraine were annexed to the EU today it would be entitled to 80% of the ‘treasure’. Proceed, therefore, but with all the necessary precautions. And in the knowledge that, for Italy, the priority remains the annexation of the Balkans.
#Giorgia #Meloni #today #Granada #focus #migrants