The new Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, will make her first international trip since taking office on Thursday, with a visit to Brussels during which she will meet with the presidents of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, of the European Council, Charles Michel, and of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.
Meloni, who has not yet made his debut as Italy’s representative at Council meetings – the October meeting was attended by his predecessor, Mario Draghi – will not, however, meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who is on an official visit to Turkey.
The far-right leader vindicated Italy’s alliance with both the EU and NATO in her first speech to Parliament and has distanced herself on several occasions from the pro-Russian positions of one of her great partners, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Meloni also suggested in the aforementioned speech that he aspired to negotiate with Brussels «adjustments» in the recovery plan that sets the milestones and reforms that Rome must undertake to access the various tranches of EU aid provided for in the European anti-crisis fund created in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The Community Executive then hastened to stress that the Member States must comply with the recovery plans in the terms adopted and that only in very exceptional situations, in which objective data demonstrate the inability to comply with the measures, could Brussels study «case by case» possible modifications.
Meloni’s pending trips include one to the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh to participate in the United Nations Climate Summit (COP27) and another after the G20 leaders’ meeting in Bali, Indonesia. In addition, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski has publicly invited the Italian Prime Minister to visit Kiev.
