The progress made in the European Council on the EU enlargement process satisfies Giorgia Meloni, especially with regards to Bosnia and Herzegovina (a country for which the Italian government has spent a lot of effort in negotiations). But the same cannot be said on the topic of budget revision, where the definitive agreement is still missing, and above all on the subject of the Stability Pact, a topic that was not touched upon during the Brussels summit but which was discussed, and at length, in the discussions on the sidelines. For these reasons the Italian Prime Minister speaks of at the end of the European mission Council in “chiaroscuro”.
It's certainly not a radiant Meloni who appears before the reporters at the Europa Building and the reason is easy to tell. “We were unable to find a solution on the revision of the multi-annual budget, although a solution, in my opinion, is within reach. I am not pessimistic about the fact that it can be achieved in the next European Council”, explains the resident of Palazzo Chigi, outlining an initial assessment of the summit.
In the compromise proposal on the mid-term review of the MFF 2021-27 agreed by the 26 in the European Council last night and blocked by Hungary's veto, the allocation of 9.6 billion euros to the 'migration and external dimension' chapter is envisaged ' and 1.5 billion for Step (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform), the program which is what remains of the European Commission's project to create an EU sovereign fund, first announced and then abandoned. The text meets Rome's favor because, explains Meloni herself, it contains “all the priorities that Italy had set” from flexibility on existing funds to migrants. “There was a point in this negotiation in which nothing was foreseen on migration and now we have reached almost 10 billion to be spent in particular on the external dimension. A great result”, exults the Italian Prime Minister, “if we manage to confirm it at the next European Council”.
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 have been 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 distant”. In front of the Senate, Meloni raised the fear of the Italian veto, but today, when asked about this option, the prime minister's declarations take on a less 'warlike' tone: “I don't want to put it that way” because “it's not a good way of seek syntheses with others… I said in Parliament and I repeat: the only thing I cannot do is give my approval to a Pact that not I, but no Italian government could respect. Because it would be unfair and it would not 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 saw the president of the EU Commission Ursula Von der Leyen before the start of the work: ” 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 given itself as a strategy – I am talking about investments – without being 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 advocated by Germany and the frugal countries, with Holland in the lead. An ally for Italy in the negotiation is, however, Emmanuel Macron's France, which had a long conversation with Meloni on Wednesday night at the Hotel Amigo in Brussels, which was then also joined by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
With the French president “we discussed the issue of the Stability Pact and all the other dossiers on which we think a convergence with France can be built. And on the Pact there are various convergences on common interests”, the words of Meloni, who excludes a possible exchange between the ratification of the ESM by Italy (so far the only EU country not to have yet approved the reform) and the approval of the 'Europe to the request for flexibility made by Rome: the “link” between the Stability Pact and the ESM “I only see it in the Italian debate” and “there is no blackmail dimension in saying 'if you don't do this we won't give you this' . No one has ever posed the question like this”, assures the leader of the Brothers of Italy.
Meloni also claims his role as mediator with Orban, who yesterday decided to put away the veto weapon on the start of negotiations for Ukraine's accession to the EU by abandoning the meeting on the occasion of the vote. A choice which therefore allowed the remaining 26 countries to approve the turning point in Kiev's move closer to Europe. With the Hungarian Prime Minister, Meloni remarks, “I did exactly what I said I would do. You are much more useful when you have the ability to 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 oust him). A welcome destination could be the Ecr group which is part of the Party of European Conservatives and Reformists of which Meloni is president. Orban's excessively pro-Putinist line for now represents an obstacle to his possible position in the ECR, but if the Prime Minister of Hungary were to soften his positions the situation could change, the Euro-conservative group says.
Also on the table at the Brussels summit is the question of the war in the Middle East, but in the end the leaders decide to reiterate what was established in the last Council, because if those conclusions had been updated “probably some divergences would have made the job difficult”, recognizes Meloni. However, the EU heads of state and government agree on the need to continue to condemn the Hamas attacks of last October 7, to reaffirm Israel's right to defend itself “within international norms” and to “work on a solution of long period” or that of two peoples in two States.
(by the correspondent Antonio Atte)
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