“You are doing an amazing job. We need to show that democracies can work and that we can produce a new economic model. You are doing it!” Mario Draghi’s G20, in an armored Rome and returned to the center of the world, kicks off with a Joe Biden enthusiastic about the work carried out by the former president of the ECB, ferried to Palazzo Chigi by a pandemic which, in March 2020, brought the country to its knees. Strengthened by a vaccination campaign that is advancing decisively, an acceleration on the green pass without equal in Europe and an Italy that has finally returned to growth, Draghi faces the G20 supported by the axis with the USA.
Joe and Jill Biden arrive late at Palazzo Chigi and with a hiccup: they arrive before the large American delegation. They await the arrival of the presidential ‘queue’ in their car, which runs along an armored Via del Corso. Waiting for them at the entrance of the main door of the building that has housed the seat of government since 1961, Draghi and his wife Serena, usually reluctant to take part in international summits but this time, for the G20 in Rome, on the front line. The two first ladies – the Italian in an elegant purple suit, Jill in a black damask suit – entertain themselves over tea as the bilateral between the two presidents begins, which will last over an hour.
Draghi thanked Biden for his support for the Italian presidency of the G20 and for his commitment to the climate. Because one of the biggest challenges awaiting the Rome summit is precisely this, the climate transition, with China and India irremediably distant even on the date of 2050 to achieve the zero emissions target. And shortly after Biden, with a much more modest presidential procession than the US one, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Palazzo Chigi.
The spotlight is all on Biden, but in reality India represents a fundamental piece of this G20. Draghi knows this well, because in his speeches he usually emphasizes that, to save the country, Europe’s commitment is not enough: the planet is saved together. China and India must do their part, but convincing them sounds like a mission impossible. In this G20, however, we will try to bring home by at least shortening the distances.
Pushing in the same direction – saving the planet – is an ally who is not part of the G20 but who plays a decisive role: Pope Bergoglio, the most environmentalist pontiff that history remembers, and who today spoke at length with Biden about the climate crisis . With Draghi, the US president makes “a commitment to quickly decarbonise the way we produce electricity”. But of meat on the fire, in an hour and a quarter of comparison, the Italian premier and the US president put a lot of it. The harmony appears total, as had already emerged with strength and clarity in the Carbis Bay G7.
The two discuss the Afghan crisis, Biden thanks the former ECB number one for all that Italy has done to “support the Afghan people, including by convening an extraordinary session of the G20 to address the efforts against terrorism and for humanitarian aid “, reads the note issued by the White House after the meeting. A note explaining how the two leaders “discussed the security challenges in the Mediterranean region and reaffirmed the importance of NATO’s efforts to act as a deterrent and defend against threats from any strategic direction”.
Not only. Draghi collects Biden’s support on another issue that is particularly close to his heart, that of European defense. Central also in terms of Atlantic security, in a “relationship of complementarity”. In the bilateral, the ‘main course’ of the fight against the pandemic could not be missing, another great and undisputed protagonist of the Rome summit tomorrow staged in the Eur district.
The objective to be achieved is already on paper, it appears in the document of the plenary that saw together, on the eve of the G20, the ministers of finance and health of the world’s leading figures and aims at “at least 40% of the population in all countries by the end of 2021, and 70% by mid-2022 “. Strengthened by the teaching that Covid has left behind it: international coordination as a fundamental pawn in dealing with emergencies and pandemics. The planet is saved together, even from the threats of viruses and health crises. The challenge, not just a little, is to march together. (by Ileana Sciarra)
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