every day there is one I suspect that the campaign for the European Corriere.it has begun

On the Pnrr, Italy’s match with Brussels is no longer a question of rules and even less of numbers: it has become a political question. The prime minister is convinced of thisaccording to which the latest events in the negotiation are the sign that the electoral campaign for the European elections has begun.

Yesterday the statement of a Commission spokesman – critical of the government’s measures on the Court of Auditors – convinced Meloni to react to disavow the Brussels representative. The fact that the long note from Palazzo Chigi refutes that thesis point by point, testifies to the premier’s intention of wanting to stop in the bud a political operation that had been winding up for days in the executive and in diplomacy. The idea of ​​passing Italy off as a country where control institutions are being dismantled is seen as an attempt to bring Rome closer to Budapest, to which Europe has suspended the funds “to protect the financial interests” of the Union for not having established “adequate control over expenditure”.

A reckless and even unfounded maneuver, according to jurists and opposition leaders like Calenda, who believe the government’s approach is correct. However Meloni – having noted that “every day there is one” – has decided to reply, considering the EU’s attitude to the rules governing the supervisory role of the Court of Auditors instrumental. Since they have been in force for three years, this form of double standard appears inexplicable, given that with the two previous cabinets the issue has never been raised: “Unless the problem is related to our government”. It is a rhetorical exercise, because in this case the explanation would take on a clear political meaning, would be proof of how the campaign for the European elections began. Palazzo Chigi will continue to respond to objections at the tip of the regulation, but the premier realizes that they are moves dictated by the electoral deadline. And she believes that they send a signal of great weakness from Brussels.

On the other hand, as an authoritative minister points out, «if the predictions of the vote were to come true and in Europe a majority between Populars, Conservatives and Liberals materialised, everything would change. So the opponents react.” This is why today the disruptive maneuvers towards Rome are no longer attributed to the technocrats of Brussels, renamed the “masters of Bruges” because a famous specialization school of European bureaucracy is based in that city. This time the level of conflict is higher: it touches the leaders of the Union. And it is no coincidence that the EPP, flexing its muscles for the electoral campaign, had posters printed against the socialist vice-president of the Commission Timmermans. Just as it is no coincidence that the popular president von der Leyen, in the odor of confirmation, prudently stays out of the fray.

The point is that it is above all Italy that is being targeted. There are many reasons, explained by the Farnesina feluccas. Not only the “sovereignist” Meloni could become a forerunner for other similar leaders of the Old Continent. In addition, with Macron who is in his last mandate in France, Scholz who in Germany enjoys the approval of one in five Germans, and Sanchez who in Spain has been forced to vote early, the prime minister could assume a leading role in the future in the Union. And she, when she hears these arguments in the meetings, stops them laughing: «Avoid because otherwise they’ll kill me…». But there is no doubt that between now and 2024 “it will be a year in which there will be dancing”, as a government official claims: “The signs are there. There will be shots below the belt.”

There will also be complicated passages for the premier: from the application of the Pnrr to the decision to be taken on the Mes, a topic that he will certainly address with the German chancellor, who is visiting Rome next week. The European Stability Mechanism can represent the lever of a wide-ranging negotiation. One of the most important ministers explains it: «They are asking us to ratify the Mes and to accept the revision of the Stability Pact. We are interested in fiscal harmonization and the rules for the banking union». It’s Europe, honey.

The Political Diary newsletter

If you want to stay updated on political news, subscribe to the newsletter “Political Diary”. It is dedicated to Corriere della Sera subscribers and arrives twice a week at 12. Just click here.