SAVELLETRI (BRINDISI) Now head to Brussels. When the flags of the G7 countries begin to be lowered in Borgo Egnazia to return to normality made up of silent century-old olive trees and very rich guests, the ties have already been loosened for a while.
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The tension imposed by Giorgia Meloni in the three-day summit drops rapidly, even before the prime minister holds – not without some controversy – the final press conference. The first after the one at the end of the year. Of course, inevitable given the role played by the Italian presidency, but – albeit brief – emblematic. The very fact that after 162 days he returns to take questions in a press room is a sign. The failed stress test of the Sardinian elections is now definitively behind us. In fact, after that defeat, Meloni had feared the worst, confiding to several of his collaborators his fear of arriving “weak” at the European Championships and the G7, and imposing a consequent stop to several matches (primarily that of appointments in investee companies). And, above all, ending up pacing a communicative change of pace for his government and a diplomatic one for the Sherpa team (the arrival of Elisabetta Belloni dates back to those days). Since yesterday he has been certain that those predictions have not only not materialized, but that they have actually been disregarded, transmitting the idea of identity as a starting point through the “global village” shown to the Seven and to the outreach leaders. And also through the panzerotti that “left them speechless”, the artisans and the lights that dominated the last evening.
THE TRIPS
Yet there has been no shortage of trips (and there will be no shortage of them on Monday). Especially on the part of Emmanuel Macron who, forced to put himself at the center of attention by the latest electoral results, has put our diplomatic team in difficulty. First by not inviting Meloni to the commemorations for the Normandy landings which preceded the summit, then – once in Puglia – by exploiting in the media in his favor the requests made on abortion and the recognition of LGBTQIA+ rights, managing to have the “Olympic truce” inserted » within the text to address a possible de-escalation (the Olympics will begin in Paris on July 26th), and finally with a diplomatic ungrammatical announcement on the sidelines of an Italian-led summit of a trilateral agreement with Israel and the United States for a roadmap that leads to the reduction of tensions in the Middle East.
A long series of more or less evident tensions and confrontations which, even before moving to Brussels for the informal dinner between European leaders to be held on Monday evening, was revealed in the divergence between the latest statements of the two leaders. Beyond the attempt “not to give too much emphasis” to the distances with Meloni declared by the tenant of the Elysée, Macron in fact underlined how face-to-face meetings were held in Borgo Egnazia between those interested in defining the leadership of Brussels (the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, convinced that “there will be an Ursula bis”, and the heads of the EU institutions Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen), highlighting his desire to close the game soon, preferably before the vote on the French legislative elections which will be held in July, and will most likely give the Parisian assembly an ultra-conservative majority.
Possibility – that of informal dialogue – however denied by the prime minister, intending to assert the electoral results guaranteed by last week’s polls and the international image of solidity shown at the G7, taking all the time necessary to put pressure on the other European leaders (Macron included). The message delivered to those present in Borgo Egnazia and elsewhere is, in short, that Italy will not accept downward compromises. And therefore, here is the “common sense” recognized by Meloni in the words of the deputy prime minister and foreign minister Antonio Tajani who in recent days had supposed it was better to wait for the outcome of the transalpine electoral consultation.
Position games with which the prime minister, who informally at this stage would be willing to accept Ursula’s encore only in exchange for a vice-presidency of the EU Commission and a heavy delegation (such as the internal market or competition), will present herself at the table in Brussels. If the dinner ends up being indigestible – and the words with which Scholz greeted it upon his return to Germany, predicting a fight with France do not exclude this (“Meloni is from the extreme right, obvious differences”) – the match risks reopening completely, even calling into question the name of the President of the Commission.
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