«” The “President Meloni met” the “President Metsola and” the “President von der Leyen» – Corriere.it

“The President Giorgia Meloni met the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council Charles Michel in Brussels”.

The message spread by the official accounts of Palazzo Chigi summarizes the main events of Giorgia Meloni’s international debut in Brussels. The note is accompanied by a series of shots: they portray the meetings with the leaders of the most important European institutions. Two of which are currently led by two women: von der Leyen and Metsola, respectively head of the European Commission and Parliament. The lexicon of the message makes evident two very different choices: Palazzo Chigi refers to Meloni as “the president”but immediately afterwards for the two European leaders it adopts the wording “the president”.

It was well known that the Italian premier had chosen the male title for official communications. A week ago, a note from the general secretary of Palazzo Chigi, Carlo Deodato, made her preference official: the name to be used in institutional communications is “the President of the Council of Ministers”.

But the preference for the masculine form is valid only and exclusively for Meloni and does not extend to other women who hold public offices, for which the wording is instead declined to the feminine. Therefore “the president” of the European Commission and “the president” of the European Parliament. A difference that can hardly go unnoticed, since the titles follow each other within the same sentence.

Indeed von der Leyen and Metsola, moreover, together with the president of the ECB Christine Lagarde, a few months ago they had wanted to send a message to all European girls. From the accounts of the president of the European Parliament, a shot had been released showing them together, at a working lunch. The photo was accompanied by a few, eloquent words: “For all the girls of Europe”. Even the hashtag chosen by the President of the European Parliament was equally explicit: «#believe», or «believe in it». Metsola, von der Leyen and Lagarde had wanted to emphasize that today three of the most decisive positions in Europe are in the hands of women: a fact that represents a very strong sign of discontinuity with respect to the past.