After days of uncertainty marked by intense diplomatic work, the official announcement finally came: French President Emmanuel Macron will receive Giorgia Meloni for the first time since taking office as Prime Minister at the Palazzo Chigi in the Elysée. This will happen on Tuesday afternoon, when the Prime Minister will also have landed in Paris for her Expo 2030 mission. The appointment with the General Assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) was already on the agenda and will start at 3 p.m. The novelty, doubted almost at the last minute and made official after much back and forth, is represented instead by the bilateral agreement with Macron. An awaited face-to-face meeting following the tensions of recent months on the Paris-Rome axis, particularly on the migrant front, following meetings last March in Brussels and in May at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. The invitation to the Elysée came, perhaps not coincidentally, not even two weeks after the Parisian “mission” of the head of state Sergio Mattarella. A visit which, for the French Presidency, testified to “the relationship of trust and friendship between the two Presidents and the exceptional ties that bind our two countries”. An even closer link with the Quirinale contract signed in 2021, the “implementation” of which will be among the topics of conversation between Macron and Meloni.
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During the meeting, which will be preceded by a press statement, the two will discuss bilateral relations, address European issues (including the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact, with Italy seeking allies in its bid to divest itself of PNR investment calculations) and Take the opportunity to prepare for the EU Council that will take place in Brussels at the end of the month. Council in which Meloni wants to put the management of migration flows back to the fore, with the Tunisia case at the fore after President Kais Saied’s EU mission ten days ago. The Prime Minister and Macron will also discuss the next NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11-12 and reaffirm their joint support for Ukraine at military, humanitarian, economic, diplomatic and judicial levels.
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Meloni’s journey across the Alps will also be marked by the appointment at the 172nd General Assembly of the Bie. In fact, before going to the Elysée Palace, the Prime Minister will speak with the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, and the President of the Lazio Region, Franceso Rocca, to promote the capital’s candidacy for Expo2030. In 20 minutes the delegation will try to convince Bie of the goodness of the Italian project. In addition to Rome, there are the two port cities of Busan (South Korea) and Odessa (Ukraine), but above all Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). The BIE Assembly (starting at 3pm and ending at 5pm) is the last session before the final decision, which will be taken in November, at which delegates from the 179 member countries of the BIE will be called to vote.
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