The draft conclusions of the European Council are “an excellent starting point”. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is satisfied with the text that arrived on the table of the EU summit in Brussels, because “there are Italian positions”, she says. The government appreciates the large space dedicated to the issue of migration framed in the EU external dimension, something that “was truly unthinkable eight months ago”. Because, Meloni remarks, “we have really managed to change the point of view, also with the contribution of other nations”, overcoming “the age-old division between countries of secondary movements and countries of first arrival” and arriving “at a single approach that solves everyone’s problems.”
The Tunisia chapter has also been included as a separate point in the external relations chapter. The EU hoped to bring the already signed agreement for the disbursement of a first tranche of aid to the top, but Tunis has asked for more time and negotiations will resume on Monday, after local holidays. For the premier, the chapter on Tunis “tells about that idea of strategic partnership for the countries of North Africa which for us is a very important change of pace on Europe’s role in the Mediterranean which Italy has been the bearer of in recent months” . An all-round partnership, on energy, green, training, skills, which the European Commission would like to take as a model for other third countries and which Italy would also like to extend, especially in the energy sector in the Mediterranean. The premier also spoke of this in the bilateral meeting with the Cypriot president. On migrants, therefore, the old EU fractures seem to have been mended by the recent agreement on the Migration Pact and by this external projection of the defense of the EU borders, for which the Commission would like to invest more funds (15 billion in the review of the multi-year budget) and which for Meloni is just a first step. Even Poland, on a war footing for the compulsory solidarity envisaged by the Migration and Asylum Pact, is in agreement on the defense of the borders, so much so that it has proposed to the EU leaders a plan for the effective management of the external borders and a reform to improve Frontex’ ability to fight human trafficking. For all, the hard line approach against traffickers and “Fortress Europe” prevails, pending the entry into force of the Migration Pact which should speed up asylum and repatriation procedures.
There is another front on which Italy could find itself in more difficulty, namely economic issues. The Month in the first place. After the mention in a letter to the President of the European Council Charles Michel, the number one of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe, in a hearing in the European Parliament reiterated once again that Italy must consider in its internal debate that the ratification of the treaty will allow other countries to make use of it. From Brussels it has been repeated several times that the ratification of a commitment already made by the Italian government cannot be linked or negotiated with other dossiers, according to the intentions of the government, which would like to put it on the plate, in the autumn, together with the reform of the stability or the completion of the Banking Union.
On the Ukrainian front, which occupied the first part of the summit, Russia’s internal affairs fell upon the leaders’ table. The theme could not fail to emerge in the discussions. Although the line of the chancelleries remains to define it as an internal problem, they are all aware that this will have repercussions both on the Ukrainian conflict and on security in Europe and also in Africa, as von der Leyen pointed out. The earthquake that the Russian system suffered last weekend, with the rebellion of Wagner’s mercenaries, has weakened Putin, but this is not necessarily a good thing. “The mutiny demonstrates that there are cracks in the Russian system”, observes the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, in reconfirmation, who met the Twenty-seven and the EU leaders, but “it is too early to draw conclusions”. For the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, «a weaker Putin represents a greater danger; therefore, we must be very aware of the consequences. Everything remains unclear: what happened, who was behind this attempted military upheaval, military rebellion.” Of the opposite opinion was the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who spoke by videoconference at the European Council, according to which “Russia’s weakness will make it safe for others and its defeat will solve the problem of this war”. The presence of some of Wagner’s departments and of Prigozhin himself in Belarus has aroused concern among EU leaders, especially for the Baltic neighbours. «On the one hand there is the nuclear narrative, on the other the fact that the Wagner group is somehow moving there», explained a qualified EU source, not surprisingly «some states have put forward the hypothesis of new sanctions against Belarus”.
