The holidays are over, the bell has rung. We are back to work and we must get serious. Yesterday’s Council of Ministers tackled the open issues head on and gave a loud and clear message, if there was still any need: Giorgia Meloni is back. So much so that it wanted a majority summit with all the leaders – from Maurizio Lupi to Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani – to precede the Council of Ministers, which lasted over two and a half hours, capable of setting the agenda for the next year of government. The third of the Meloni era, which must be born under the banner of European and international relaunch.
And the summit was also the occasion for an internal clarification between FI and Lega. Those small frictions in August on the ius scholae, reasoning with a cool head, can serve, the head of the Farnesina points out, “to remind everyone that we are here too, that we are in all respects the second majority force”. Meloni, having called the curtain on the summit meeting of the centre-right, juxtaposes its title: “We have renewed the coalition pact”, she summarizes. And on with the Council of Ministers. Europe has asked for a name of weight. That of Raffaele Fitto. The Minister of European Affairs, Territorial Cohesion and the PNRR is the indication of the Italian government as European Commissioner. Fitto, from Puglia – and former president of the Puglia Region – is the minister who more than any other has held together European and Italian needs.
The words with which Prime Minister Meloni communicated the European “launch” have the painful flavor of someone who, as a coach, must deprive himself of one of the team’s spearheads. “Today,” Prime Minister Meloni said in front of the ministers, “I will communicate the name to President von der Leyen and I ask everyone to applaud and wish Raffaele Fitto good luck, who will have an extremely complex and at the same time exciting task ahead of him. It is a painful choice for me, I think also for him, and for the Government, but it is a necessary choice.” Fitto, a bridge builder par excellence, is the right man. Appreciated across the entire center-right spectrum and beyond. “The news of Fitto’s nomination as an Italian candidate for member of the European Commission fills us with joy and pride,” the southern MEPs of Fratelli d’Italia said in a note. Those of his party and his constituency.
And so do all the ministers, the majority parliamentary groups and even some members of the opposition. “Certainly a good choice,” comments for example the deputy of Italia Viva, Luigi Marattin. But there is a but. Going to Europe, today, will not be a reward trip. Much will depend on the delegation that Fitto will have. He will certainly find several issues spread out to answer. Immigrants and their routes. Agriculture. The PNRR, which is being finalized. And among the pending issues, the dispute over the beach resorts. The offices are filing the proposal that is already on the tables in Brussels: the beach concessions would remain valid until September 2027, but the tenders should be called by June 30 of the same year, green light for compensation, but with more restrictions than expected to soften the position of the other party. The important thing, explains Meloni trying not to look at anyone, is that no rush is attempted. A warning that is even more valid on the maneuver: we must reconcile the millstone of public debt with the confirmation of the cut in the tax wedge for incomes up to 35 thousand euros. Then there is the structural budget plan that, for the first time, the Ministry of Economy and Finance will have to jot down, foreseeing a “cut” of the structural deficit of at least 0.5% per year for the next 7 years: numbers in hand, it is about 10 billion per year. Resources to be generated through a deficit recovery strategy capable of convincing Brussels of Rome’s good intentions. Certainly not an easy task, in which Commissioner Fitto will be very useful.
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2024-09-02 07:26:08
