The “bathroom of Europe” by Zelensky yesterday in Brussels coincides with a new phase of diplomatic isolation of Italy left on the ground by the Franco-German lead car and with yet another tug of war between Rome and Paris due to Giorgia Meloni's failed invitation to the Elysée on Thursday evening.
We are now trying to understand why the trip of the Italian premier to Kiev scheduled for January 31 has been postponed by about a month, allowing Zelensky to have his entire European stage free, first to thank the United Kingdom authorities (on which military resistance against Russia depends almost entirely), then for dinner with Macron e Scholz up to the catwalk yesterday in Brussels.
ITALY-FRANCE CRISIS: MELONI IS LEADING ROME INTO A DEAD END AND NOT EVEN A REAL BILATERAL WITH ZELENSKY
La Melons he defined Zelensky's invitation to Paris together with the German chancellor as "inappropriate", thus reopening the "cahiers de doléance" which was never completely closed in relations between Rome and Paris. And, this, just as the European Council for the first time was accepting the Italian proposals on immigration in terms of defining maritime borders and on clearer rules for NGO ships.
Palazzo Chigi tries to save the situation in a corner by selling a brief exchange between Meloni and Zelensky as a "bilateral meeting" on the sidelines of a meeting between the Ukrainian president and various European premiers. But defining that a bilateral is really excessive.
The images that remain etched in the mind are those of the former prime minister Mario Draghi who, after an initial phase of caution (due to our country's strong energy dependence on Russia), did not hesitate to support Macron's efforts by boarding the train that took him to Kiev together with Macron and Scholz last June.
The exclusion from the Elysée dinner came in addition to the French and German finance ministers' mission to Washington last Tuesday Bruno Le Maire e Robert Habeck to negotiate measures to respond to the Inflation Reduction Act of Joe Biden. A mission that took Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti by surprise, who did not hide his disappointment: “if Italy had done it, this government would have been accused of being sovereign and anti-European. If the parties were reversed, we would be on trial”.
ITALY-FRANCE: MELONS' IRRITATION AND MACRON'S DIRTY COMMENT
On the missed dinner, Meloni does not hide irritation "That of the French president is an inopportune initiative - she says clearly - I understand the internal political issues and the desire to privilege one's public opinions, but in some moments doing so risks being to the detriment of the cause. Our strength must be unity”. Meloni alludes to the problems that the French executive is facing due to the increase in the retirement age to 64 which is causing mass protests throughout France. The French president drops the excise duties on deaf ears: "I have no comments to make, Scholz and I were in our role" the French president cuts short. “Germany and France, as you know – adds Macron – have had a particular role for eight years on the issue of Ukraine, because we have also conducted this process together, I think it is also up to Zelensky to choose the format he wants”.
“But this hurts theEurope – they comment at Palazzo Chigi – it is not a question of Italy, but of Europe. Alongside Kiev there are not only Germany and France, our strength must be unity. What would have happened if we had done it? The end of the world… from Palazzo Chigi, where it is not concealed
As for substance, Meloni confirms support for Ukraine both for military supplies and for future reconstruction. A frank discussion is what the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso had yesterday with his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire.
To the transalpine colleague, who had requested the contact to explain the results of his mission in Washington, Urso he directly replied that Europe's response to the American IRA can only be "common" according to the principles of cohesion and solidarity. “Sending different signals risks generating false expectations overseas – says Urso – and splitting the front within the EU by delaying the decision-making process”.
