Meloni-Macron: the thaw meeting will go down in the news like the meeting on the Gianicolo, in one of the most fascinating scenarios in Rome. The new Italian premier Giorgia Melonsappropriately catechized by President Sergio Mattarella and by former premier Mario Draghi on the opportunity not to isolate himself in Europe, he was keen to meet the French president Emmanuel in person Macron, who has been in Rome since yesterday and who will meet the Pope today and have lunch at the Quirinale, and she was satisfied. They met informally in a suite of the Hotel Melià on the Gianicolo and the political signal was immediately clear. Macron, who had just returned from a speech of great cultural and political significance at the Roman conference of the Community of Sant'Egidio on peace, he cordially met her for over an hour and illustrated the themes that are immediately at the heart of the European Union's activity: the energy emergency first of all, but also the sending of new weapons to the Ukraine in the hope of creating the basis for soon reaching a truce in the war and the reforms awaiting the EU, starting with the new Stability Pact.
MACRON: "CONTINUE COLLABORATION WITH ITALY". MELONS: "WE WILL UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER"
“As Europeans, as neighboring countries and as friendly peoples – Macron said – we must continue all the work we started with Italy: succeeding together, with dialogue and ambition, we owe it to our young people and our peoples. Our first meeting in Rome with Giorgia Meloni goes in this direction”. Confirmation of the Italian premier: "We will understand each other, with the frankness that is our own". The fact that Meloni speaks French simplified the interview, as did the premier's method which can be summed up in one word: "Pragmatism".
Macron listened to Meloni with interest, effectively distancing himself from that vast current of French opinion which tends to identify the Italian premier with Le Pen, two who have never actually loved each other. “Relations between Italy and France – commented the French President – are more important than people”. And it is no coincidence that sources from the Elysée have made it known that Paris has the feeling of being faced with a new leader who wants to "position herself in continuity with Mario Draghi", while adding that France will judge Meloni on the facts and recalling that a particular attention will be paid to the defense of rights, which had previously aroused some mistrust beyond the Alps.
MACRON INVITED MELONI TO PARIS
In short, the debut was good and the fact that Macron invited Meloni to Paris testifies to it. Which does not mean that the positions coincide but it does mean that Meloni and Macron must make every effort to understand each other and to face the pressures coming from other parts of Europe. It is in the interest ofItaly continue to cooperate with France but it is also in Macron's interest to find support in Rome after the crisis of the axis with the Germany by the disappointing Sholtz.