“More Europe on migrants”. The government line in Brussels explained by Piantedosi

More Europe to control borders, increase repatriations and redistribute those who arrive. In view of tomorrow’s meeting with his European counterparts, the Interior Minister explains why Italy’s position on flows is more pro-European than Orbanian

“It’s time to say it forcefully: Italy, even on migrants, needs more Europe, not less Europe”. The interior ministers of the European Union will meet tomorrow morning in Luxembourg to seek an agreement on the position to be taken in the negotiations with the European Parliament on the new pact on migration and asylum. For Italy, this is an important appointment from a symbolic point of view because the attention of many observers will be directed to the position that the Meloni government will take in this match. The sides on the field are not yet defined but there is a good chance that Italy could be decisive, at next week’s European Council, in the event that the Swedish presidency fails to find the unanimity of the twenty-seven EU countries, on this dossier, and should thus venture towards a qualified majority vote. At the starting line, the situation is this. Southern countries are asking for more solidarity. The northern countries want to strengthen the responsibility of the countries of first entry. And the agreement we are working on, which our David Carretta talks about extensively, provides for a principle that we could roughly summarize as follows: more responsibility for the countries of first entry in exchange for more solidarity. At this point in the reasoning, the question, albeit malicious, is inevitable: will the Meloni government, on this front, have the courage or not to emancipate itself from the Orbán agenda?