Wall against wall

The newspaper Avvenire on Friday morning branded the tug-of-war between Italy and France over the migrant case as ‘simply desolating’. “A childish quarrel” an “inhuman clash on the skin of the weakest” and concluded that “the European Union is a construction that is far from complete – and the inability of its leaders to mediate and pacify in this affair proves that there is still a great deal of work to be done and by no means a foregone conclusion”. Actually, the Union had shown proof of mediation by bringing 18 countries to the same table last 10 June for the signing of the agreements on the redistribution of refugees.

What went wrong? The application of European rules. But the rules are there. The problem is, evidently, political. The chancelleries in Rome and Paris are in dialogue to try to bridge that ‘eight-hour gap’ last Monday when the crisis apparently originated. A hole in which a quick exchange of jokes on the sidelines of Cop 27 in Egypt was allegedly interpreted in a specious manner by both leaders. Meloni’s political week, in short, closes with a fine mess, with consequences that will be understood in the coming days, both on the internal and external fronts. Not least because Paris’ reaction was very muscular, going so far as to invoke, indirectly, a repercussion on the Recovery Plan and the cancellation of the June agreements on refugees, a treaty whose application Macron is said to have already suspended.
The Italian majority, and Fratelli d’Italia first, for that matter, do not want to give in. After all, a question continues to camp in Via della Scrofa: are we sure that the timing of this landing is coincidental? Nevertheless, the incident is annoying for Meloni, after days in which she had seen her consensus grow further. This approval was crowned by the Council of Ministers’ approval of the Aiuti quater decree, which introduced a new round of support for families and businesses to counter the energy and inflationary crisis. The decree gave significant answers on several fronts: first of all on the expensive bills (possibility of instalment payments for companies), and then on the superbonus (lowering it to 90 per cent) and payments (green light for cash up to EUR 5,000). And it also laid the foundations for strengthening the exploitation of gas produced in Italy (granting of new concessions).

In little more than ten days since taking office, Meloni has already made three Council of Ministers’. There are many things to be done and the government wants to show and demonstrate its self-sacrifice. Speed continues to be the leitmotif of this majority. Parliament has also ‘quickly’ finished structuring itself, with the installation of commissions and the appointment of presidents, vice-presidents and secretaries. A step in which it was also possible to satisfy the great excluded from the government team. During the week, Meloni also hastened to consolidate the international posture of her executive, from Cop 27 in Egypt, where she confirmed Italy’s commitment to the climate issue, to the meeting in Rome with NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, who was reassured on the fulfilments in favour of Ukraine.

Europeanist and Atlanticist. That’s Giorgia Meloni. And fast. Although in the last two weeks speed has already undermined her government action, first on the rave case and now on the migrant case. Situations in which perhaps a little less impulsiveness could have prevented the birth of misunderstandings. As that famous saying goes: he who goes slow …