EU summit: from green cars to migrants, what Italy has achieved (and what it hasn’t)

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The European twenty-seven summit which closes today should be considered the first half of a match which will end at the end of June, with the possibility of an extraordinary summit in May. But a first budget for Italy is already possible on the objectives that the Italian premier Giorgia Meloni it set itself upon arriving in Brussels: to maintain the point on the green transition, defend itself from the hawks on the reform of the Stability Pact (which will only be born in April) and impose the battle on migrants.

Migrants: no turning point

The issue of migrants, at the center of the extraordinary European Council of 9 February, was marginal on the agenda of the new summit but ended up emerging anyway. “I expect steps forward from the EU on migrants but I can say that I am satisfied with the draft conclusions”, said Meloni who raised the alarm on Tunisia, a country in serious economic crisis that awaits the go-ahead for the loan program from 1 9 billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund: “If Tunisia collapses completely, there is a risk of a catastrophe for humanity, with 900,000 refugees,” he warned.

The Italian premier hoped for signals from the European Council for effective community management of the migration issue, especially after the letter sent by Ursula von der Leyen to the leaders of the 27 in view of the appointment in which the president of the EU Commission called for “a European and balanced approach ” on the topic. The Italian government has welcomed von der Leyen’s reference to Italy’s ‘extremely positive experience with humanitarian corridors’. But the very terse conclusions (“the European Council requests rapid implementation of all the points agreed” in the plan of 9 February), in reality, do not mark a turning point. They reiterated the need for rapid implementation of the Commission’s Action Plan. We will talk about it again in June.

Stability pact: tension with the “frugal”

The other game is that on the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact (the legislative proposal of the European Commission will arrive “soon”, said Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni). Meloni reiterated the Italian line: «Today everyone is being asked for important investments for the ecological, digital transition, for strategic supply chains. It cannot be thought that the investments necessary to make our system competitive are not taken into account in governance”.

The idea is that of a “golden rule” in the new Pact for the resources spent in the transition (and perhaps also for defence) or greater flexibility for those countries with high debt and little fiscal space in the repayment path (for example out of seven years instead of four). «The EU should learn from its mistakes», was Meloni’s warning addressed to the so-called “frugal” countries (with Germany and the Netherlands in the lead) which are instead asking for more rigid parameters for everyone. The emergence of tension is just around the corner. But the summit did not mark any progress in the dossier.