Prime Minister Meloni’s official visit to Brussels, a meeting with the future of the EU and NATO [Promoted content]

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, also ECR Party President, picked Brussels for her first official visit abroad, unlike her predecessors who have generally flown to Washington. According to some, this may appear in tension with her political vision centered on Italy’s national interest, you will find that not to be.

She has consistently pointed out the need to re-shape the relation with EU institutions towards a more balanced path. Saying that, however, does not mean challenging the historical and political projection of Italy towards Europe. If anything, it means greater assertiveness in making the country’s legitimate viewpoints more and better heard in Brussels.

This will have to start in Rome first by devoting more space and ensuring greater political relevance to debates on issues that are critical for the EU’s future—issues that cannot be delegated entirely to the Brussels-based institutions, however competent they can be—or to just a small handful of countries. By treating EU institutions and other partners with respect, moreover, the new Cabinet also intends to deserve that same respect, as Ms. Meloni’s ministerial delegation emphasized.

The first dossier that will test the soundness of this new approach will be the RRNP. On that, expectations from Rome are pretty straightforward. Since April 2021, when the Plan was finalized and sent to Brussels, the geoeconomic settings have shifted significantly. As a result of the ensuing energy crisis, for instance, production prices in Italy have increased – only in the month of September – of some 50 percent on an annual basis. Thus, the challenges are pretty unique and daunting.

Energy priorities have equally shifted: while until a year ago the goal was to decarbonize the economy and the journey towards it relatively straightforward, now the priority has grown in complexity. That is, longer-term decarbonization must be achieved in the context of providing a stable and adequate supply of energy to the economy, while the transition takes place.

As a result, the current crisis – without precedents – does require a much-needed update of the Plan within the agreed-upon framework. More to the point, any multiannual investment plan – which is exactly what the RRNP is like – does foresee some regular updating. This is even more key, if the EU is not amenable to conceive of new initiatives to address the implications of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.

The reform of the Stability and Growth Pact is also key. The Pact has been suspended since the outbreak of the pandemic but a much-needed reform is long overdue. Here, based on press reports, the Government will adopt a fiscal stance based on caution while providing support to businesses and households heavily hit by the crisis.

This further reiterates that Ms. Meloni did not go to Brussels to ask, but also to reassure EU partners that her fiscal stance is as it must be, informed to caution amidst the significant public debt that Italy has inherited from the past. As the Commission will unveil its own proposals for reforming the SGP in the coming days, Italy will provide input to ensure that any reform will reconcile longer-term fiscal sustainability with greater ownership for fiscal policies in the near term.

Yet, Brussels is not only the capital where key EU institutions are located, but also hosts NATO’s main headquarters. Her visit, thus, is highly symbolic as it relates to the two overarching pillars inspiring some of her policies. And on security, again, Ms. Meloni went to Brussels to offer, not to ask.

Indeed, Italy has been deeply affected by the geopolitical crisis and the ensuing energy emergency. Its economy includes several energy-intensive sectors relying on gas – until recently imported from Russia in large amounts. Despite heavy losses incured by the economy, Italy consistently remains a loyal and active ally of NATO, whatever the rising economic costs at home are. Because freedom is priceless.

Source: euractiv.com