No Serie A and Serie B clubs. Giorgia Meloni’s European plan belongs in a different league. continuity and rupture. It is not an oxymoron but a method that the head of the FdI is willing to bring to the Palazzo Chigi to make it a compass in relations with Brussels. Continuity, because the European tracks are narrow. On the one hand, economic constraints, starting with the NRP, the mandatory roadmap for anyone succeeding Mario Draghi at the head of government. Maybe you can discuss it, but certainly not turn it around. On the other hand, diplomatic relations. In Europe, the outgoing prime minister recalled last week, “we are allies of France and Germany.”
Sunday’s results are also expected in Brussels. This was made clear by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: “We will see the outcome of the elections” in Italy. Also because the economic cornerstone of the NRP is at stake: “If things continue in a difficult situation – I’m talking about Poland and Hungary – we have the tools. If things go in the right direction instead … ». The reference relates to the rule of law tools used against the two countries: “The Commission is the guardian of the treaties – he explained during an event at Princeton University in the US – it must protect and defend them and has the legal powers tools to do it”.
In any case, despite the rhetorical escalation of some of the foreign press against FdI, the preferred channel remains with Paris and Berlin. Emmanuel Macron defines the relationship with Italy as “inevitable”, whoever is at the helm from next Monday, and the German government is doing the same. Meloni’s adviser Giovan Battista Fazzolari put it in a nutshell: “The European left, not France and Germany, is worried about a Meloni government.” The phone of the respective missions in Rome is really hot during these hours.
Because now that Washington DC has established credit facilities, the EU leadership is in exactly the same climate of vigilant expectation that von der Leyen manifests. This tranchanting warning, which Meloni repeated on the pitch, “free riding is over”, basically anticipates a real change of method. “We will put the interests of the Italians first – declares a big name – when France stops Fincantieri in Saint Nazaire but tries to take over the Italian companies, doesn’t it do the same?”. And if there are conditions for detente with France, with the Germany of Olaf Scholz – the leader of the SPD who has returned from political support for Letta – the balance sheet must be changed. In Berlin, Meloni is playing a double game in the energy crisis – he brakes for the EU gas price ceiling, but does not waive the discounts from the Russian Gazprom that can no longer be overlooked.
In the aspiring prime minister’s European agenda, a break also means talks with Eastern Europe. Because, they argue, with Putin’s war in Ukraine, Eastern European countries will become Western borders. Changing – in the Meloni plan – ultimately means making your voice heard at the EU tables. And here, despite the different temperaments, you can see a continuity with Draghi. Who – they say – proudly claimed in a recent confrontation with Giorgia to have been a non-conformist approach to the EU negotiations. Sometimes much more impassive than his predecessors at Palazzo Chigi.
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