Meloni-Mitsotakis, Mediterranean axis for immigration

The European Union must recognize more forcefully the requests of the Mediterranean countries on the management of migrants: Italy and Greece are united by this objective, one of the focuses of the meeting between Giorgia Meloni and Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens, where the prime minister flew in the evening for a quick visit. A face to face followed by a working dinner between two leaders from different backgrounds who however defend national interests that are currently aligned, and who could also form a common front in the complex negotiations in Brussels on the new Stability Pact.

Not to mention that, according to many observers, the Greek prime minister represents a bridge with the EPP for the leader of the FdI and the European Conservatives. Meloni, fresh from a visit to Caivano and Mitsotakis from a tense parliamentary debate on the fires that have plagued her country, found themselves at Palazzo Maximos. In recent months they have both had to deal with a massacre of migrants, that of Cutro and that off the coast of Pylos, tragedies of a phenomenon that shows no signs of abating along the central and eastern Mediterranean routes. A complex situation to manage. In recent days an anti-racist movement had announced protests against the choice of the Greek Nea Dimokratia government to collaborate with the Italian centre-right “in the war against refugees and immigrants”. Rome and Athens are focusing in particular on cooperation with African countries of origin and transit, strengthening bilateral relations.
Meloni and Mitsotakis could join efforts in moral suasion on the European Commission to release the funds granted to Tunisia. But above all they ask Brussels to manage the problem in an integrated way, waiting for the negotiation on the new Migration and Asylum Pact to be completed, and for the relocation system to really work. Another negotiation in which Rome and Athens have overlapping interests is that on the Stability Pact. Meloni insists on the need for flexibility and the separation of investments for the green and digital transition, as well as those for defense, from the calculation of the debt/GDP ratio. In the hours before the meeting, rumors spread that Brussels was rejecting the Italian proposals. Certainly, so far no signs of opening have arrived, and between Palazzo Chigi and Mef there is an awareness of the risk that the new European financial governance will not be defined before the end of the year. “Everything is open,” it is explained, without denying the need for a buffer period at that point. To face Germany’s push, Italy is trying to forge alliances with France, Spain and other southern European countries. Including Greece.
Whether this front will take shape will be clearer in the next multilateral events, the informal Ecofin on 15 September, the informal summit of heads of state and government on 6 October and ten days later the Eurogroup. Among the investments that Italy would like to separate, there are also expenses for Ukraine. Support for Kiev is another of the international issues discussed between the two prime ministers, together with the crisis in Niger, the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Balkans, where Italy plays a mediation role and Athens is experiencing a period of tensions with the government of Tirana. Among the open dossiers is also that of economic cooperation (from 2021 to 2022 trade increased from 9 to over 11 billion) and in particular energy. They range from the electrical interconnection between the two countries, up to the search for gas in the Eastern Mediterranean area. Eni (whose explorations south of Cyprus have to deal with protests from Turkey over disputed waters), Enel Green Power, Fincantieri, Italgas, Snam, Terna operate in Greece. In terms of defense, then, Fincantieri is focusing on Greece, which is participating in a tender for the corvettes of the Hellenic Navy (a deal worth around 2 billion), in competition with the French Naval Group. Atm, the Milan transport company, also makes its debut in Greece, which with a 250 million contract (through Thema, 51% controlled) will manage the Thessaloniki metro, the first automatic in the country.

This article is originally published on nuova_europa