The staff of Palazzo Chigi: Germany’s ambiguity. The paradox: only a worsening of the situation could convince other countries too
From our correspondent
NICOSIA – We have six countries who think like us: Poland, Czech Republic, Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia. Six states, but they are not enough. Giorgia Meloni he’s not looking too hard for Emmanuel Macron: the French have nuclear power, clean energy, and don’t seem interested in the Italian mission.
Is it an impossible mission? The Prime Minister also tries with the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, however, seems to turn a deaf ear, the two leaders discuss several times alone, during the days of the European summit, but Berlin remains cold. He has a position that in the Prime Minister’s staff is defined with one word, «ambiguous».
But if finding support from the Germans is difficult, making inroads into the positions of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenappears even more complicated. According to the head of the Commission there are at least 95 billion euros that Member States could use and so far they have not asked, but the survey seems to refer more to the Spanish and other member states than to Italy, which in the case of the Pnrr has already requested everything it could and which seems to have no capacity or ability to reprogram for the other funds, to which Brussels’ number one refers.
In short, Giorgia Meloni leaves Cyprus with few certainties, the paradox is that only a worsening of the situation could change the scenario. She herself said that has no desire to divert Cohesion funds to the energy dossier, if only because a large part has already been committed for the Italian regions and the two dossiers are considered non-overlapping. For Meloni, the energy price crisis must be addressed with new tools, his goal is separate state aid expenditure from the calculations of the Stability Pact in the price sector of the energy market. It is the same objective as the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro SánchezAnd for once the axis, if you want to spend this term, it is between Madrid and Rome. Curious, and also new.
At the moment it is impossible to say whether the pressure on Berlin will change the state of things, Meloni herself, before leaving Cyprus, makes a reference to the next meetings that will take place at the European level. But without a change in the Chancellery’s positionflanked by the harshness of the Dutch line, with the prime minister Rob Jetten, it is difficult to imagine Ursula von der Leyen backing down.
Yet the prime minister has no intention of giving up. «It makes sense that we talk about easing of state aid rules, but I asked two questions: Which sectors are involved? Because we have interests in this that must be considered, like the requests of the hauliers who suffer from expensive diesel fuel and which could stop soon. For us this would mean a increase in inflation, on all basic necessities.”
The prime minister also puts the issue of fiscal capacity, «which is not the same in the different Member States. If you don’t start fromeasing of constraints at least for these sectors, it is a good measure for some states and not a good one for others. But we need everything except creating further disparities.”
Meloni says it explicitly, and also thinks of Sanchezthis time “I’m not the only one asking for these measures”. While he doesn’t lose faith in Berlin: «Also the Germans realize how difficult the situation is. There is a willingness to come together. I certainly can’t find closure.”
