Officially, Giorgia Meloni is in Paris to promote Rome's candidacy for Expo 2030, but in reality it is the expected face-to-face with the French president Emmanuel Macron to hold court. An attempt to try to bring Italy and France closer together after months of tensions between the two countries often for internal political reasons - above all on the issue of migrants - which took place on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, but even earlier from some over the top exits of the exponents of the transalpine executive. But what will Meloni and Macron talk about? At the center of bilateral some temi shared, such as the Quirinale Treaty, Ukraine, the new Stability Pact, but also those in which the positions are more distant: migrants, telecommunications, foreign investments. An attempt will be made to lay the foundations for shared strategies in the next international meetings - the European Council of 29 and 30 June and the NATO summit in Lithuania on 11 and 12 July -, up to the coordination of support for Ukraine and the energy issue. A lot of irons on the fire to solve everything in an hour-long interview, but you also have to start somewhere.
Meloni: "Italy and France need to talk"
“Italy and France are two linked nations, central and protagonists in the EU, which need to dialogue because our common interests are many and converging”. Giorgia Meloni said it in the press statements at the Elysée before the bilateral. Among the topics on the agenda are the challenges related toimmigration. "We cannot allow parameters to return that would be absolutely inadequate today: the challenge is governance focused on investments: if we have given ourselves a priority, these elements cannot be ignored". He continued the premier citing among other things tgreen ransition e defense. “Investments in strategic matters cannot be considered like all the others, it is a matter on which we are in agreement”.
"An important European Council awaits us at the end of this month: we agree that concrete steps must be taken with respect to a vision of the defense of the external dimension: the dispute between primary and secondary movements must be overcome", the premier continued, underlining that in this key, "the partnership with the Mediterranean is central, not just North Africa".
Macron: "Coordination on migrants to avoid drama"
“We have to continue support citizens of Ukraine, to ensure that the counter-offensive is effective. In the very short term, our help toUkraine è military. Our ground-to-air system is now deployed and operational in Ukraine. This is an important contribution that allows civilian populations to be protected from Russian missiles. It is a concrete example of what France and Italy can do together for Ukraine”. The transalpine president said at the press conference.
And on the migration issue: "we continue to see dramas in the Mediterranean, we must organize ourselves better" in matters of asylum and immigration to avoid new dramas, Macron pointed out, also evoking the need to strengthen "control of our external borders". An issue that Italy, placed at the forefront, "knows well".
Rome's candidacy for Expo 2030
The prime minister tries to bring France to her side, which in the race for the Universal Exposition seems to be on the side of theSaudi Arabia by Mohammad bin Salman. At the moment, Riyadh - with the French backing of the Elysée - appears to be the favorite for the rush to Expo 2030 with about seventy votes, while the Capital follows at 50. At the bottom of the ranking is currently the South Korean Busan, while the Ukrainian Odessa has been excluded.
“I am honored to be here, we believe in candidacy of Expo 2030", said Meloni speaking at theassembly of the Bureau international des expositions (Bie), in Paris. “It is a difficult and exciting task. I hope to convince you to choose Rome, choose Italy”, underlined the premier adding: “Rome is the universal city par excellence, the first megalopolis in history, which has lived and continues to live by constantly regenerating itself. It has been the capital of dialogue between the great monotheistic religions and hosts dozens of international organizations", he continued, recalling how the city is "a capital of culture, one of the largest university centers in the world, as well as research and technology centers avant-garde".
And again “the Rome Expo will not end after its six months of exposure. The pavilions - continued Meloni - will remain available to all nations that request them, to allow them to maintain their own representation, to set up research and technology centres, to maintain a glimmer of dialogue. Our legacy, the legacy of the Universal Exposition in Italy, aims to build a path of progress for the international community; to show that our millennium goals can be achieved, that they are not just words and that the relationship between people and their environment can really be improved by working together”. "Choosing to host Expo 2030 in Rome means choosing all of this", concluded the Prime Minister, quoting Wolfgang Goethe, who wrote that Rome "intertwines the entire history of the world". If the prime minister has persuaded to vote for Rome, we will know next November.
