At the Euro-Mediterranean summit in Alicante, the great absentee is Giorgia Meloni. The Italian prime minister, blocked in Rome by a strong influence, misses the summit of the 9 EU Mediterranean countries: Italy is represented at the Spanish appointment by the deputy prime minister and foreign minister Antonio Tajani. Also present were the President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen and the President of the European Council Charles Michel. And on the sidelines of the afternoon work at the ‘Ciudad de la Luz’ (a gigantic film studio overlooking the sea) the reporters’ questions concern above all relations with France, after the tensions over migrants in recent weeks and the icy question and answer between Eliseo and Palazzo Chigi on Meloni’s possible visit to Paris (an invitation never received from the premier, sources of the Prime Minister remarked) which marked the eve of Eu Med-9.
“We have raised and will continue to raise a problem in all forums”, that of migrants, “which is global. It is not an Italy-France or Italy-Germany issue. We want to address an issue that can only be solved European level”, explains Tajani, welcomed together with the other European representatives by the Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez, landlord. Tajani exchanged only a few words with the French president Emmanuel Macron during the proceedings. “There has been no talk of divisions between Italy and France. I said goodbye to Macron, whom I have known for many years, but I don’t think we should insist on divisions. There may be divergent opinions but – insists the head of the Farnesina – we must always find solutions at European”.
Immigration – a topic deeply felt by the Italian delegation – is not the ‘topic’ of the Spanish summit, but in the final declaration of the summit the topic finds space in a passage: according to the leaders of the European Mediterranean countries, “a right balance, in line with EU treaties, between solidarity and fair sharing of responsibilities as a guiding principle of European policies”. From Italy, Tajani underlines on the sidelines, “a supportive response is never lacking, the important thing is that the rules are always respected, even on the part of the NGOs”.
Ample space will be given to the theme of energy and the effects on the economy caused by the conflict in Ukraine. On the gas price ceiling, according to Tajani “we are on the right track to find a compromise”. In the final document the leaders of the 9 countries (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain) call for “the rapid implementation of a market-based maximum gas price in a temporary and effective way, which ensures the prevention of excessive energy prices as well as industrial competitiveness and security of supply”. The leaders also reaffirmed their “determination” to “continue to provide strong support to Ukraine’s overall economic, military, social and financial resilience, including humanitarian aid”.
On the energy front, Europe intends to invest. And this is demonstrated by the event organized in the morning before the summit, at the headquarters of the Euipo (the European Union Intellectual Property Office), where Von der Leyen, together with the French president Emmanuel Macron, the Portuguese premier Antonio Costa and to the Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez, he presented the H2Med project for a maritime corridor for hydrogen between the Iberian Peninsula and France, between Barcelona and Marseilles. The work has an estimated cost of 2.5 billion euros. In Alicante there is also time for a football curtain. European colleagues congratulated Croatian premier Andrej Plenkovic on the success achieved by his country’s national football team, who beat Brazil in the quarter-finals of the World Cup on penalties: “Alicante will remain in my heart,” he commented Plenkovich.
(by the correspondent Antonio Atte)
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