G7, Meloni works on the dossiers to bring home the result. “Strong and in good spirits”

Preparations, inspections by technicians and preparations for the ceremony are in full swing. There are just two days left until the ‘Great People’ summit in Borgo Egnazia, the small town near Fasano that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has chosen as the location of the G7. And where she has been in ‘retreat’ since yesterday, to enjoy some relaxation with her daughter Ginevra after intense days, but above all where she is intent on dedicating herself to studying the dossiers on the summit table. This was also a busy day at work for her – according to those close to her who describe her as “vigorous and in an excellent mood” – teamwork with the Sherpas for a decisive appointment. Where the Prime Minister arrives on the strength of an electoral result that has seen her excel among European governments. A good card to play already in the good retreat of Puglia, where the prime minister – potential ‘queenmaker’ on the European negotiating table, officially starting from the informal dinner on 17 June in Brussels – will see Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron, who came out with the ‘broken bones’ from the ballot box, but also the spitzenkandidat Ursula Von der Leyen, who could instead end up being strengthened by the European vote.

On the table of Meloni and the Sherpas – among them the summit coordinator Elisabetta Belloni – the final document of the summit, about 30 pages to be defined and polished, with various ‘XXX’, open spaces to be written after having closed an agreement with the other leaders . Among the issues to be resolved and on which the spotlight is most focused is the possible agreement on the issue of frozen Russian assets. The Americans have proposed a 50 billion loan, which should be guaranteed with the proceeds of Russian funds frozen at Euroclear, the Belgian company that holds most of the immobilized assets: the issue now is to find a mechanism to tie the commitments made at the of G7 with those at EU level, also taking into account a series of technical issues, such as doubts about the possibility of guaranteeing a loan with six-month frozen assets in six months on the basis of a European Council decision. The hope is that through “diplomatic bureaucracy” we will be able to find the right solution, an objective that the Prime Minister hopes to achieve and which would guarantee her a complete success of the summit.