A very long nighttime meeting, sweetened by red wine, toasts and laughter, in the bar of a historic hotel in Brussels. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron met again in Brussels for a bilateral meeting on the eve of a crucial European Council on the issues of Ukraine enlargement and the European budget, with the big question of the stability pact in the background.
“It was an excellent discussion,” said Macron at the end of the meeting, which began in front of cameras late in the evening after the EU-Western Balkans summit. The bilateral meeting took place in the hotel bar where both heads of state and government are staying and where Olaf Scholz is also staying. The German Chancellor also sat in the same room. He first greeted Meloni and Macron and then sat for a long time at a nearby table with his staff. Finally, as the only one in the group of heads of state and government, wearing a gray short-sleeved shirt, he joined the French President and the Italian Prime Minister. Official sources revealed almost nothing about the meeting. But despite the relaxed faces around the table, the topics to be discussed were very heated. Italy is ready to do almost anything – even a veto – to prevent a compromise seen as too punitive for countries with high debt from taking shape under the new stability pact. In the 2021-27 budget review dossier, Rome and Paris stand opposite Germany and the frugal, demanding that the EU allocate more resources to migration and industrial innovation, as well as to support Ukraine.
Kiev was plausibly part of the meeting, which took place under the eyes of some reporters, the staff of the Council Presidency, the Minister of EU Affairs, South, Cohesion and Pnrr Raffaele Fitto, as well as diplomats stationed there European institutions. In fact, the meeting took place a few hours before the EU summit, where a conflict is expected to arise between Hungary and the other 26 over the start of negotiations on Kiev's accession. Late last night, moderate optimism filtered through European sources. While sources at Palazzo Chigi have explained that a bilateral agreement between Meloni and Orban is being worked on on the sidelines of the summit of the 27.
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