On migrants Meloni left alone asks for help from the “enemy” Macron

“But what does Italy really want?”. The question resounded throughout yesterday during the European Council. In the halls of the Europa Building, leaders and above all Sherpas questioned themselves about the real objectives of the government in Rome. Whose positions always appear to fluctuate between the watchwords of populist sovereignty and adaptation to European rules. And also the conversation we had yesterday evening with the French president, Emmanuel Macronwas the last change of course of Palazzo Chigi.

The clash with Paris in recent weeks had been taken by the premier almost to the extreme. However, the difficulties encountered in recent months, also due to misunderstandings with the Elysée, have forced the leader of the Italian right to make another turnaround.

After all, even the face-to-face meeting that took place late in the evening in a hall of the Hotel Amigo, a stone’s throw from the central Grand Place, was organized and led by the French president. A whatsapp message left from him on Wednesday. And it was always Macron who set up the confrontation not as a moment of reconciliation but as an “ordinary” meeting with one of the 26 European allies. Not even the dispute that took place last February due to the invitation extended by France to the Ukrainian president Zelenski without involving Meloni was put on the table. “For us – is the summary of the Elysium – there was no misunderstanding. So we talk about all the issues on the agenda of the European Council”. No concession, in short, not even formal to the need to overcome the misunderstanding of a month and a half ago. As if it wasn’t there.

For Meloni, on the other hand, the need to try to overcome an increasingly evident isolation also had to pass through a face-to-face meeting with the French president. The outcome of the long-awaited discussion on migrants was the latest proof of this. It had been presented as a key crossroads. It lasted half an hour. Zero results.

Indeed, in the European Union it is difficult to achieve results without France and Germany. The idea of ​​teaming up with everyone else has never been successful. Meloni, therefore, had to make the best of a bad situation. Also because the migratory emergency could soon take on a greater dimension and gravity. It was the Italian premier herself who underlined the critical situation in Tunisia by pointing out that arrivals from this country have tripled. “If this trend continues – she warned – this summer the situation will be out of control”. And you spoke directly to the tenant of the Elysée about this, asking for collaboration. A speech also connected to the tensions that mark another African region, the Sahel from which one of the most substantial migrant routes starts.

In short, the prime minister had to deal with the reality principle. Realizing, on this occasion, that facing some of the main crises affecting the EU and Italy without the support of historical allies such as France and Germany is rather complicated.

Obviously the French availability is not free. Macron has two dossiers on the table that he considers vital. The first concerns nuclear energy. France needs this source to be considered sustainable in all respects in EU agreements and measures. Having included it last year in the so-called “taxonomy” (the list of energy sources considered ecological) is not enough for the Elysée. He insists that the Commission’s proposal, which aims to increase the European production of strategic “green” technologies, also be included in the recent “Zero Industrial Act”.

But even on the industrial plan that has to face up to American competition that has put 300 billion dollars in subsidies to companies on the plate, Paris will want the Italian side. State aid authorized by Brussels favors Germany above all. France, even if it benefits to a large extent, still wants to put a limit to German excessive power. Meloni must therefore decide for the last time whether to confront the “big” and try to stay in the Serie A of Europe or relegate to B with the “small” and “sovereigns”.