«I agree with your work on migrants», «You have brought stability»- Corriere.it

«A new beginning» in relations between Italy and Great Britain: «I am very happy to be here, and I am convinced that we can do a good job together».

Before the start of the bilateral meeting with the British premier Rishi Sunak, the Italian premier spoke on Thursday afternoon Giorgia Meloni. Which he also underlined that he “absolutely agrees” with the work that Sunak is doing to counter “the fight against traffickers and illegal immigration».

Sunak – who welcomed Meloni saying, in Italian, «thanks Giorgia, and welcome to London – in turn, praised the Italian premier for having “brought stability” to the Italian economy.

Before the meeting, a group of a few dozen «Stand up to racism» protesters ha protested against the Italian premiershouting slogans and holding up placards that read «No to fascist Meloni» and messages in favor of welcoming refugees.

Beyond this dispute, Meloni’s two-day visit is announced – as written by Marco Galluzzo here –

«more than downhill. The respective staff have worked hard to organize an event that for both parties has a weight of maximum importance. There is a human harmony between the two leaders which already took place in Bali, during the G20, a few weeks after both took office. A political harmony based on the common belonging to the European right-wing family. A crossing of interests that ranges from the possibility that the United Kingdom promotes a European conference on migration by inviting Italy as co-president to the industrial cooperations that see London and Rome engaged in the multibillion-dollar and strategic planning of the sixth generation Tempest military fighter , together with the Japanese. Sunak has decided that Meloni deserves a limelight that is hardly granted to other heads of government: three hours of visit to Downing street, according to the British is a record.

Ukraine is certainly an area where interests interlock without nuances, the two states are perfectly aligned in an Atlantic posture which has not known any cracks in recent months, but also the intention to sign a memorandum committing the two states to work a privileged institutional cooperation along the lines of the treaties linking Rome to Paris, or Paris to Berlin, reinforces the projection of a political understanding which can unfold effects which are still only on paper, but which both governments are pursuing.

Perhaps only one will be the topic on which the two prime ministers will have a frank discussion, as they say in diplomatic terms, but not a decisive one. On the Tempest fighter, the superjet that London, Rome and Tokyo are preparing to build together, and which will not be ready before 2035, the ideas on who should be in charge have not yet converged. The British are claiming a larger portion of the partnership, the Japanese are putting in the most money, the Italians don’t want the consortium to be based in England. In the end, a diplomat who followed the negotiations in recent days put it this way: “Given that, as always, the Americans will be the major buyers, a phone call from Washington will resolve the uncertainties”.


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