By envoy Paolo Cappelleri
The European Union must more
strongly recognize the demands of Mediterranean countries on
migrant management: Italy and Greece are united by this goal,
one of the focuses of the meeting between Giorgia Meloni and
Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens, where the premier flew in the
evening for a lightning visit. A face-to-face meeting followed
by a working dinner between two leaders from different
backgrounds who nonetheless defend aligned national interests at
the moment, and who could also put up a united front in the
complex negotiations in Brussels on the new Stability Pact. Not
to mention that, according to many observers, the Greek prime
minister represents for the leader of FdI and the European
Conservatives a bridge with the EPP. Meloni fresh from a visit
to Caivano and Mitsotakis from a tense parliamentary debate on
the fires that have plagued her country, found themselves at
Maximos Palace. In recent months they have both had to deal with
a massacre of migrants, that of Cutro and that off the coast of
Pylos, tragedies of a phenomenon that shows no signs of abating
along the routes of the central and eastern Mediterranean.
A complex situation to handle. In recent days an anti-racist
movement had announced protests against the choice of the Greek
government of Nea Dimokratia to collaborate with the
center-right Italian government "in the war against refugees and
immigrants." Rome and Athens are focusing in particular on
cooperation with African countries of origin and transit,
strengthening bilateral relations. Meloni and Mitsotakis could
join efforts in moral suasion on the European Commission to
release funds granted to Tunisia. But above all, they are asking
Brussels to handle the problem in an integrated way, while
waiting for negotiations on the new Migration and Asylum Pact to
be completed, and for the relocation system to really work.
Another negotiation on which Rome and Athens have overlapping
interests is that on the Stability Pact.
Meloni insists on the need for flexibility and the decoupling
of green and digital transition investments, as well as defense
investments, from the calculation of the debt-to-GDP ratio. In
the hours before the meeting there were rumors of a rejection
coming from Brussels over the Italian proposals.Certainly, no
signs of openness have come so far, and among Palazzo Chigi and
Mef there is an awareness of the risk that the new European
financial governance will not be defined before the end of the
year."Everything is open," it is explained, without denying the
need at that point for a buffer period.To cope with Germany's
push, Italy is trying to weave alliances with France, Spain and
other southern European countries.Including precisely
Greece.Whether this front will take shape will be clearer at
upcoming multilateral meetings, the informal Ecofin on September
15, the informal summit of heads of state and government on
October 6 and ten days later the Eurogroup.
Among the investments that Italy would like to spin off is
spending on Ukraine.Support for Kiev is another of the
international issues discussed between the two premiers, along
with the crisis in Niger, the situation in the eastern
Mediterranean and the Western Balkans, where Italy plays a
mediating role and Athens is experiencing a period of tension
with the government in Tirana.Open dossiers also include
economic cooperation (from 2021 to 2022 the interchange
increased from 9 billion to over 11 billion) and especially
energy.These range from the electrical interconnection between
the two countries to the search for gas in the Eastern
Mediterranean area.Eni (whose explorations in southern Cyprus
have to contend with Turkish disputes over disputed waters),
Enel Green Power, Fincantieri, Italgas, Snam, and Terna operate
in Greece.Then in defense, Fincantieri is banking on Greece,
which is bidding for corvettes for the Hellenic Navy (a roughly
2 billion deal), competing with France's Naval Group.Also making
its debut in Greece is Atm, the Milan transport company, which
under a 250 million contract (through 51 percent subsidiary
Thema) will operate the Thessaloniki metro, the first automatic
in the country.
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