Preparations, inspections by technicians and preparations for the ceremony are in full swing. Only one day left until summit of the ‘Greats’ in Borgo Egnaziathe small town near Fasano that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has chosen as location of the G7. And where he has been in ‘retirement’ since yesterday, though enjoy some relaxation with your daughter Ginevra after intense days, but above all where she is intent on studying the dossiers on the summit table. This was also a busy day at work – reports those close to her who describe her “vigorous and in excellent spirits” -, of teamwork with the Sherpas for a decisive appointment.
A meeting, where the Prime Minister arrives thanks to an electoral result that saw it 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 polls, but also the spitzenkandidat Ursula Von der Leyen, who could instead end up being strengthened by the European vote.
On Meloni’s table and the Sherpas – among them the summit coordinator Elisabetta Belloni – the final document of the summit, about 30 pages to be defined and refined, with various ‘XXX’, open spaces to write after closing a deal with the other leaders. Among the cliff knots and on which the spotlight is most focused, 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 months’ 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 solutionan objective that the Prime Minister hopes to achieve and which would guarantee her a complete success of the summit.
