Europe in Meloni’s speech: “Italy as a great founding nation will make its voice heard”

Among the points touched in Giorgia Meloni’s long speech to the Chamber on the day of trust in the government, there is no lack of Europe. After thanking the main community leaders – Charles MichelUrsula Von der LeyenRoberta Metsola, the rotating president of the Council Petr Fiala and “with them the many heads of state and government who in these hours have wished me good work” – the new prime minister entered into the merits of Union issues: “Obviously they do not escape me the curiosity and interest in the posture that the government will hold towards the European institutions. Or even better, I would like to say within the European institutions. Because this is the place where Italy will make its voice heard loud, as befits a great founding nation“. The goal of the new executive, explains the leader of FdI, will not be to slow down or sabotage European integration, but help direct it towards greater effectiveness in responding to crises and external threats. How? With an approach closer to citizens and businesses.

“We do not conceive of the European Union as an elite circle with A and B membersor worse as a joint stock company run by a board of directors with the sole task of keeping the accounts in order “. The Union, Meloni reiterates, must remain the common home of the European peoples. As such, it will have to be able to face the great challenges of our time, starting with those that the Member States cannot tackle alone. On the subject of trade, in addition to the agreements between the Twenty-seven, the premier referred to the issue of the procurement of raw materials and energy and migration policies, as well as geopolitical choices and the fight against terrorism: “Great challenges, in the face of which the European Union has not always been ready to find. Because how was it possible, for example, that an integration process born as a coal and steel community in 1950 finds itself after more than 70 years effective solutions precisely in terms of energy supply and raw materials? Those who ask these questions are not an enemy or a heretic, but someone who wants to contribute to a more effective European integration in facing the great challenges that await them “.

The key term is “common European home”. A house that certainly translates – he explains – into shared rules, even in the economic and financial sphere. The leader of FdI is keen to specify that the new executive will respect the rules currently in force but, at the same time, will offer its contribution to change those that have not worked, starting with the ongoing debate on the reform of the stability and growth pact. And he concludes: “For its strength and its history, Italy has the duty, even before the right, to stand tall in these international fora. With a constructive spirit but without subordination or inferiority complexes, as too often is happened during the governments of the left, combining the affirmation of our national interest with the awareness of a common European and Western destiny “.