Brussels: Meloni at the Center of EU
Meloni is heading for a lead role in forming the future of EU and for the EU Council in Brussels tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the last EU Council meeting of the year. Taking place in Brussels, it is also the first in the new cycle of leadership of the EU. After elections earlier this summer, there are new people in many positions, except the head of the EU Commission, still with Ursula von der Leyen. But the presidency of the EU Council itself is now with António Costa. The new President of the European Council writes in his invitation letter to the members, which are all heads of governments, some presidents, of EU member states:
The situation in Ukraine will be at the forefront of our discussions. I have just returned from a visit to Kyiv, on the first day of my mandate. We need to stand with Ukraine for as long as necessary and do whatever it takes for Russia’s invasion to be defeated and international law to prevail.
The December European Council meeting is an important occasion to send a united and unequivocal message of support to Ukraine, for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.
I have invited President Zelenskyy to come to Brussels on the occasion of the meeting of the European Council to share with us the latest developments on the ground and his views on how Europe can best support Ukraine.
Le Comunicazioni del Presidente Meloni (Photo courtesy Camera dei Deputati)
The big question
Considering this a very significant positioning of the Council, the question obviously is: How will Costa achieve that with the two most important member states absent, if not physically, then mentally and politically? Germany is in a political crisis not seen for decades and by the way not very interested in ramping up economical support for Ukraine, not to say military aid. It would be poisonous for Scholz to run for election with such an opening for all the Ukraine critics within his own party, including some old-school Russia-friendly factions. France is not in a much better position, as the newly appointed Prime Minister, François Bayrou, has served for so short time that he has not yet appointed his team of ministers.
In terms of leadership, it is fair to say there is a large void in EU.
Appropriately, the situation in Ukraine is first and almost only on the agenda for the Council meeting, but there are many other pressing issues that need attention. To mention one, the relationship with US is also important, but with too many unknowns to really fit into the agenda at this point in time. For the full next year, these are the published priorities of the Costa presidency:
Enlargement
Security and defense
Role of EU in the new multi-polar world order; new partnerships
Forging stronger transatlantic bonds
Competitiveness, Single Market, Energy, Trade
Migration
Housing
Growing to fill the gaps
Donald Tusk of Poland is certainly working hard to fill in for the failed and missing leadership of the Council. Indeed, he has experience as he was President of the European Council from December 2014 to November 2019. He was the second permanent President of the European Council. He did partially leave the Brussels scene and had to take care of some serious problems in Poland, with the PiS party trying to undermine institutions in a similar way to what Orbán did in Hungary. Tusk took up the challenge and sent PiS to the back rows, and is now probably getting ready for more visibility in Brussels. See more in the earlier post on Tusk and Ukraine:
But even more significantly, the Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni is heading for a lead role in EU for the Council meeting tomorrow. Her speech to the Italian Parliament yesterday 17 December laid out some important directional landmarks for her approach, and that of her country. See below.
Italy held the presidency of G7 this year and Meloni mentioned the support for Ukraine as a special result. “Italy has reiterated, on every international occasion, its support for the legitimate defense of Ukraine, its independence, its territorial sovereignty: principles that have also inspired our action as G7 Presidency, during which we reached an agreement to make a 50 billion dollar credit line available to Kiev, a loan that will soon be disbursed and that will be guaranteed by the extra profits on Russian assets immobilized in Europe. It was an extremely complex task, which led to an extremely important result. It was a success for the Italian Presidency of the G7.”
On the new, stronger role of Italy, Meloni said: “The Italian Government is increasingly indicated by international observers as central to numerous dynamics.” And pointed to several outside initiative alongside those of EU itself. “I am thinking of the meeting on migration, inaugurated on the sidelines of the last European Council at the headquarters of the Italian delegation in Brussels, a format promoted by Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands that brings together several Nations, in which the President of the European Commission also participates, to take stock of the progress of the new migration policy of the Union and to reason together on innovative solutions.”
Meloni has been seen together with Elon Musk frequently during the last few months, in New York and at Mar-a-Lago. For outside observers it is quite clear that Meloni is well positioned and indeed positioning herself as the European leader most suited for taking care of EU relations with the new US administration. Meloni said: “In this context too, it is essential to maintain a pragmatic, constructive and open approach with the new Trump Administration, exploiting the areas of potential and fruitful EU-US cooperation and trying to prevent trade disputes that certainly would not do anyone any good. Speaking of international trade, I do not want to avoid providing food for thought on a topic of strong debate these days, which is the issue of the EU-Mercosur Agreement, even if it will not be on the agenda of the European Council.”
On defense, Meloni also said: “And clearly, a Europe that claims to be stronger and more autonomous cannot ignore a common commitment to strengthen its defense, finally building a European pillar of NATO to be placed alongside the North American one, with equal weight and dignity. Our commitment to the Atlantic Alliance remains the cornerstone of our security, but Europe must certainly aim to have a greater role within it.”
Finally, the tricky problem of competitiveness and lack of the same, Meloni also had some interesting remarks. She mentioned that she has helped the outgoing Hungarian rotating presidency with a report on a new industrial strategy. However, the first issue she will take up, is finding a way out of the electric vehicle dead-end that European car producers currently have ended up in. “The causes behind the difficulties of the sector are various, and, among these, certainly figures the having imposed a decarbonization model based solely on electricity, which if confirmed would risk bringing the entire European automotive industry to collapse. For this reason, as Italy, together with the Czech Republic and with the support of other European partners, we have promoted an important initiative aimed at proposing an alternative strategy.”
“We are immediately asking for the suspension of fines against manufacturers, fines that are already leading to the closure of important factories, precisely to avoid incurring those penalties, but in the medium term we are setting ourselves the more ambitious goal of reopening the chapter of technological neutrality, making all mature technologies usable that can contribute to reducing polluting emissions. We welcome the openings that are emerging in recent days from the words of the European Commissioner for Industry Séjourné, as well as from important political groups in the European Parliament.”
Speech of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to the Italian Parliament on 17 December, in preparation of the European Council summit in Brussels on 19 December.
Transcript, translated from the Italian original
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the next European Council will, in fact, be the first Council of this new European legislature, the first chaired by the new President António Costa, who has expressed to me and the other Heads of State and Government his desire to make the work of the Council more streamlined and concrete, focusing more attention on strategic debates and avoiding, instead, delving into conclusions, into questions of detail that can be more effectively addressed at negotiating and council tables. It is a position that I personally share very much because, today more than ever, faced with ever new and increasingly complex challenges, given the concrete risk of marginalization - if not even irrelevance - that the European Union faces in various areas, sectors and geopolitical quadrants, we need to focus our attention on what Europe's mission should be, starting from the profound reasons that keep us together.
This will also be the first European Council after the installation of the new Commission, and this is where I would like to start. The last time I came to this Chamber we still had to go through the parliamentary process necessary for the confirmation of the College of Commissioners, proposed and led, for the second time, by Ursula von der Leyen. It was certainly not a simple process nor free from even bitter political controversy, but at the end of that process I feel I can proudly say: mission accomplished.
An Italian has been appointed Executive Vice President of the European Commission, a politician of value, esteemed in Italy and in Europe. He, Raffaele Fitto, has been entrusted with an important portfolio, worth a total of approximately 1,000 billion euros between the Cohesion Policy Funds of the 2021-2027 budget (approximately 400 million euros) to which must be added those of the new programming that will, in any case, be defined by this Commission and the resources of Next Generation EU (approximately 600 million euros), a competence that Fitto will share with Commissioner Dombrovskis. Just as the Executive Vice Presidency assigned to the Italian Commissioner is not, for us, simply an honorary title, but rather a concrete tool that will allow the Italian Commissioner to supervise and coordinate the policies of the European Union in strategic sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, transport, tourism, the maritime economy and social housing; sectors in which an Italian sensitivity can certainly contribute to bringing the debate back to a pragmatic approach, overcoming the ideological and dogmatic drift that Brussels has shown in too many areas in recent years. I believe that everyone in this Chamber can recognize how the role assigned to Italy in the new Commission is adequate to the weight of our Nation in Europe: it is a result that confirms the centrality of Italy in the new European context and, from my point of view, also the ability of our Government to assert the reasons of Italy; but it is also a personal recognition for Raffaele Fitto and for the excellent results he has achieved in these two years as Minister of the Italian Republic. If today Italy is in first place in Europe for objectives achieved and financial progress of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, it is due above all to the excellent work carried out by him and his offices, as well as to the commitment of all the Ministers and all the institutional levels of the Italian system as a whole. As you know, this difficult legacy was taken up by the Honorable Tommaso Foti, a serious and capable person that this Chamber has come to know and to whom I renew, on behalf of the entire Government, my best wishes for good work.
I would essentially say that although there are still those who, regardless of reality, continue to repeat the mantra of an alleged international isolation of Italy, the facts seem to demonstrate the exact opposite. The Italian Government is increasingly indicated by international observers as central to numerous dynamics and it is a positive change that, beyond personal political convictions, should make every sincere Italian proud, just as Italy is increasingly a protagonist in the new formats of dialogue, which are born in Europe to try to address, in a pragmatic and concrete way, the numerous strategic dossiers that we are discussing: I am thinking of the meeting on migration, inaugurated on the sidelines of the last European Council at the headquarters of the Italian delegation in Brussels, a format promoted by Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands that brings together several Nations, in which the President of the European Commission also participates, to take stock of the progress of the new migration policy of the Union and to reason together on innovative solutions. But I am also thinking of the North-South Security Summit, which will take place in the next few days in Finland, promoted by Prime Minister Orpo, to which Italy has been invited to participate together with the Prime Ministers of Greece and Sweden and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
I have dwelt on these aspects because I would like us, together, to try to make a leap in level, in our debate on Europe, in the merit of the choices to be made and the role that Italy must play. It is a fact that our extraordinary condition of stability - extraordinary not only compared to the past of our Republic, but also compared to the political turbulence that several large European nations are facing - is an important capital, which Italy can and must be able to exploit and which it is in our national interest to be able to highlight on every occasion. Consolidating the idea of a stable Italy allows us to strengthen our cooperation with partners, allows us to attract more foreign investment, allows us to work to bring home our too many brain drain, to whom we must try, together, to give a new rewarding dream in their homeland.
Of course, the first duty to guarantee this stability falls to the majority, which I take this opportunity to thank for the unity it is demonstrating in its daily government action and parliamentary activity, but the added value given by this stability is certainly a valuable card to play also within the European Council.
Having said that, Thursday's Council will be preceded, on Wednesday, by the European Union Summit with the Western Balkans. Thanks also to Italy, the accession of the Western Balkan Nations is now at the top of the European Union's priorities. We are talking about Nations that are located in the heart of our continent, that are European by history and, for this reason, we are convinced that their entry into the Union would finally sanction the completion of the reunification of Europe. The time has come to concretely recognize the progress they have made and to reward their efforts, continuing to work with them for European stability and security.
The European Council will deal almost exclusively - as is right - with the major geopolitical crises that are affecting and disrupting our time, starting, of course, with Ukraine. Last November 19, we commemorated the thousand days of heroic Ukrainian resistance to the Russian war of aggression. Italy has reiterated, on every international occasion, its support for the legitimate defense of Ukraine, its independence, its territorial sovereignty: principles that have also inspired our action as G7 Presidency, during which we reached an agreement to make a 50 billion dollar credit line available to Kiev, a loan that will soon be disbursed and that will be guaranteed by the extra profits on Russian assets immobilized in Europe. It was an extremely complex task, which led to an extremely important result. It was a success for the Italian Presidency of the G7.
And at this stage, the systematic Russian action aimed at hitting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, in view of the winter, is of particular concern. Ensuring their safety, as well as that of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, is a fundamental objective for us. Italy also continues to financially and politically support European initiatives in favor of Ukraine, participating in the EUMAM military training mission, the EUAM civilian assistance mission and military support, through the European Peace Facility.
The end of the war and the construction of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace, founded on the principles of the UN Charter, remain our objectives, because it is in the vital interest of Italy and Europe to maintain a system of rules based on respect for international law. As I have said many times in this Chamber, as a member of the opposition and as Head of Government, there is no advantage for us to live in a world based on the force of arms and oppression. We want to continue to spend all our energy in this direction, involving, in this effort, other global actors, to reach a just peace as soon as possible.
Precisely for this reason, Italy will continue to do its part also in strengthening sanctions, assisting companies that carry out their activities, in compliance with them. We supported the recent adoption of the fifteenth package of sanctions, while a sixteenth is already being developed. The meeting that I will have with President Zelensky on the eve of the European Council, together with other European leaders and the Secretary General of NATO, Rutte, will allow us to reaffirm the common line of action. This is also an important opportunity to discuss the future of the conflict, maintaining close coordination on the next steps to be taken.
As always, looking to the future of Ukraine also means imagining its reconstruction, which must be supported together with international financial institutions and the private sector. On 10 and 11 July 2025, Italy will host the Conference on Reconstruction, an important event on which the Government is already working and for which it counts on the support of all political forces and the entire Italian system. But peace and reconstruction are not a priority only in Ukraine, the Middle East also deserves a perspective of stabilization from this permanent crisis into which it has fallen, further complicated by what we have seen happen in Syria, in a few days. The fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime is good news, rightly celebrated by the Syrian population after more than a decade of civil war. The rebel forces that have asserted themselves are heterogeneous, have different backgrounds and potentially conflicting interests.
There is obviously concern for the future of the Nation. Italy, the only G7 nation to have an open embassy in Damascus, is ready to engage with the new Syrian leadership, obviously in a context of assessments and actions shared with European and international partners. The first signs seem encouraging, but we need to be extremely cautious. Words must be followed by facts and we will judge the new Syrian authorities on the facts. The decisive factor will be the attitude towards ethnic and religious minorities and I am thinking, in particular, of Christians, who have already paid a very high price and have too often been persecuted. As Pope Benedict XVI taught us - but allow me to take this opportunity to wish Pope Francis a happy birthday on behalf of the Government, and I think also of the Chamber - today religious freedom is a good that belongs to the essential core of human rights, to those universal and natural rights that human law can never deny.
The fight against terrorism is another key aspect of this scenario, there must be no room for a return of ISIS or ambiguity towards groups that intend to make Syria a base for new terrorist nuclei. I intend to discuss this in Brussels with European partners, also because I am convinced that the European Union has a fundamental role to play in Syria, particularly in terms of rebuilding a deeply devastated nation. The Syrians will have a leading role, obviously, in the reconstruction, but they will need European and international support, particularly with the Arab nations. It is an issue on which it is urgent not only to reflect, but also to identify better tools for action. In the background, the long-standing issue of Syrian refugees, in recent months many refugees have returned to Syria, these were movements that were not determined by the desire to return home, but by the need to escape the clashes in Lebanon. After the fall of Assad, we have witnessed further return movements. Italy, as you know, has long been committed to promoting voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable returns and intends to continue working in this direction with EU partners, with UN agencies, first and foremost UNHCR, which is at the forefront of the dossier, and - I hope - with the new authorities in Damascus. The recent visit of the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the announcement of the imminent conclusion of a strategic agreement between the EU and Jordan also go in this direction, a direction that has been promoted with conviction by Italy. Clearly, the Syrian situation is part of the broader and more complex Middle Eastern scenario. The achievement of a truce in Lebanon is an important step forward, on which the Italian Government has been constantly committed.
Italy, as I also had the opportunity to confirm last Saturday to the Lebanese Prime Minister Mikati, will do its part to contribute to monitoring compliance with the agreement and guarantee full sovereignty to Lebanon. We will do this above all by continuing to work to coordinate international support for the Lebanese Armed Forces through the technical-military committee for Lebanon, headed, not by chance, by an Italian general, and we will do it with our soldiers present in UNIFIL that this Government never wanted to withdraw precisely because it was aware that they would be essential once hostilities ceased. Allow me, in this Chamber, to send, on behalf of the entire Nation, a heartfelt and convinced thanks to the women and men of our Armed Forces in Lebanon who, as they have always done and do throughout the world, have remained in their posts, with courage and a sense of duty, at the service of the Nation and peace.
A very strong commitment, therefore, by Italy in favor of Lebanese stability and sovereignty, but it is obvious that the European Union can and must also contribute to the new balance in the Country of Cedars and I am satisfied that, also at the Italian urging, the European Union has, in turn, begun to support the Lebanese Armed Forces with an initial contribution of 15 million euros, which was approved last September. At the same time, we must maintain high attention on Gaza. We renew our strong request for an immediate ceasefire based on the no longer postponable release of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas and on the provision of adequate humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Italy is at the forefront in supporting the Palestinian civilian population. We have allocated 70 million for the response to the crisis and with the Food for Gaza initiative we have organized two humanitarian flights for over 100 tons of aid. Our goal, however, is not only immediate assistance: our long-term goal is to contribute to the stabilization and material and social reconstruction of the Strip and we must continue to work for the resumption of a credible political process. A just and sustainable peace in the region can only be achieved through a two-state solution that guarantees both Israelis and Palestinians security and mutual recognition. Last Friday I met with the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to whom I assured Italy's support for the reform process of what is the only possible interlocutor for Palestine and to whom I reiterated my belief that Europe must play a leading role in the drive for a structural and definitive solution to the Israeli-Palestinian question. President Abbas, for his part, thanked Italy, which the Palestinian National Authority considers a friendly nation, for its balanced position and for its commitment on the front line.
Still on the subject of security, I would also like to briefly recall that Italy continues to pay high attention to the safety of navigation in the Red Sea, thanks above all to our leading role in the Aspides naval mission. In the European Council we will also discuss the report prepared by the former President of the Finnish Republic, Sauli Niinisto, on strengthening European civil and military preparedness in the field of emergency response. It is a report that highlights the need to multiply efforts to ensure that the European Union is better prepared in all relevant sectors, to strengthen our reaction capabilities and guarantee our security in any scenario. Italy is more than interested in contributing to the political debate on the future role of the EU as a crisis manager and security provider, starting not so much from legislative proposals from the Commission, which at this stage would risk being premature, but from the need to maximize the combined impact of national and European efforts in crisis management, in line with the principle of subsidiarity. In particular, Italy is not willing to give up a national excellence such as that represented by our Civil Protection, but we can certainly share our experience and our know-how with our partners.
An important strategic discussion will then be dedicated to the macro-theme: the European Union in the world. The increasingly close interaction between the crises and wars that surround us, drawing an arc of instability that goes from the Arctic to the Sahel, requires a comprehensive reading and greater efforts to relaunch the global role of the European Union, starting from a renewed dialogue with all partners based on respect and not on a paternalistic approach. And clearly, a Europe that claims to be stronger and more autonomous cannot ignore a common commitment to strengthen its defense, finally building a European pillar of NATO to be placed alongside the North American one, with equal weight and dignity. Our commitment to the Atlantic Alliance remains the cornerstone of our security, but Europe must certainly aim to have a greater role within it.
To do this, however, it is vital to progress rapidly on the path of open strategic autonomy and seek innovative solutions to ensure adequate funding for the necessary investments, for example, by starting a concrete debate on the possibility of issuing European bonds for defense investments and continuing to push for the exclusion of defense investments from the calculation of the deficit/GDP ratio of the Stability Pact. In this context too, it is essential to maintain a pragmatic, constructive and open approach with the new Trump Administration, exploiting the areas of potential and fruitful EU-US cooperation and trying to prevent trade disputes that certainly would not do anyone any good. Speaking of international trade, I do not want to avoid providing food for thought on a topic of strong debate these days, which is the issue of the EU-Mercosur Agreement, even if it will not be on the agenda of the European Council.
Italy shares the geopolitical priority of returning to invest in a strong European presence in Latin America: a continent with a culture very similar to ours, which we risk abandoning to the political and economic penetration of non-Western global players. A perspective already underway that weakens Europe and the West, in a global context in which regional crises and the strong push of the global South and the BRICS Plus lead to a re-discussion of the structures of a world that is no longer just multipolar but deeply fragmented. The problem that arises today is therefore not the geopolitical opportunity to move towards a new season of political and commercial cooperation agreements with third countries, but rather the sustainability of the impact of these agreements on some sectors, such as agriculture, which have often paid the highest price with the opening of the European market to products made in third countries, in which the same environmental and food safety standards that we impose on our producers are not respected.
The EU-Mercosur agreement must therefore offer concrete guarantees and growth opportunities also to the European agricultural world, whose profitability and competitiveness has been undermined in recent years by a devastating ideological drift. In recent years we have fought so that farmers are no longer treated as enemies of the environment but as what they are, that is, the first custodians of nature, and we have fought to eliminate the absurd opposition between environmental sustainability and competitiveness that that ideological drift had imposed. Important signals have arrived in this sense, but there is still a lot of work to do and therefore we cannot ignore the concerns of our agricultural sector.
Effective safeguard mechanisms must be implemented, including a system of adequate compensation for supply chains that may be damaged. We are carefully studying the preliminary agreement concluded last week by the European Commission in Montevideo and we will support our positions with conviction, taking the time necessary to evaluate whether our requests will be met. In the absence of this essential rebalancing, Italy's support will not be there because we are convinced that the EU-Mercosur Agreement must bring benefits to everyone and not just to some. In the meantime, we will continue to fight forcefully and consistently in support of a strong and competitive European agriculture. European food sovereignty remains a strategic resource that Europe cannot and must not give up. The issue of relations with Africa remains central: a real priority in Italy's international agenda, as demonstrated by the centrality that we wanted to attribute to it in the context of the G7 Presidency that is about to end.
Let me reiterate my satisfaction at this point for the high-potential initiatives launched within the G7 under our Presidency - the Apulia Food Systems Initiative on agricultural production, the Energy for Growth in Africa for the development of green energy, the Adaptation Accelerator Hub on adaptation and mitigation of climate change -, but above all for the sharing of the Italian commitment to build, not only with Africa, but with the entire global South, a new model of cooperation and development on an equal footing. I believe that this is one of the most important legacies of the Italian Presidency, which will formally end in a few days.
It has been an important year, but, at the end of our G7 Presidency, I want to thank, also in front of this Chamber, all those who have worked with dedication for Italy's success, a success that is also publicly recognized by all our allies, by all the Nations that participated in the leaders' summit, in the 23 ministerial meetings. I would also like to thank all the Ministers for this, and in particular the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani.
Our Mattei Plan, which is already in an advanced stage of implementation, continues to attract interest among our partners. It is not a Plan of this Government, but rather an initiative of national interest and, in my opinion, an initiative of European interest. This is also why we are working to increasingly Europeanize and internationalize this initiative, strengthening, on the one hand, the synergy with the European Union's Global Gateway and, on the other, with the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, which was launched within the G7.
A new partnership between the European Union and African nations is essential to address common global challenges. Among these, as always, of course, there is also the management of migratory flows, even more so today with the new Syrian crisis, which risks generating new flows. The fight against human trafficking remains fundamental for us. We have welcomed the new European directive on human trafficking, which extends the crime to include the exploitation of surrogate motherhood. On the other hand, we are engaged in negotiations for the new anti-migrant trafficking directive, in order to strengthen the European regulatory framework on the matter. The work done so far to strengthen the EU's collaboration with some countries of origin and transit - I am thinking of Tunisia, but not only - has contributed to a decrease in irregular flows of 60 percent compared to 2023 along the central Mediterranean route. Continuing in this direction is the only way to contain irregular arrivals, reduce tragedies in the Mediterranean, make the EU's external borders safer and address the root causes of migration.
Italy has played a decisive role in initiating the ongoing debate at EU level on the search for innovative solutions to the migratory phenomenon, especially with regard to return policy. We consider a review of the Return Directive and an acceleration of the Commission's review of the concept of a safe third country to be urgent. Just as we consider it important to anticipate as much as possible what is foreseen in the new Pact on Migration and Asylum on the definition of a safe country of origin, also in order to shed definitive light on a topic that has been the subject of recent ideological judicial decisions, which, if they were embraced in their underlying philosophy by the EU Court of Justice, would risk compromising, at least until the entry into force of the new EU rules on asylum procedures in 2026, the return policies of all Member States: a worrying and unacceptable prospect, which must be prevented with determination.
Likewise, we will continue to work with the 15 Member States that signed the letter asking the Commission to identify innovative solutions to combat illegal immigration and the other 4 that, in the meantime, have asked to participate in the technical working groups created following that initiative. Among these innovative solutions, there is, of course, also the Protocol between Italy and Albania. And I want to reiterate, also in this Chamber, that we intend to move forward with the implementation of this Protocol, in full compliance with Italian law and European standards.
Finally, in the next European Council we will not deal with the more strictly economic issues, but obviously the issue of competitiveness remains central. Allow me to make a comment on this too. Following up on the Letta and Draghi Reports, the Hungarian Presidency of the EU organized, last month, an informal European Council, which resulted in the Budapest Declaration. It is an ambitious document, which establishes a new pact for European competitiveness and sets shared objectives to bridge the gap that Europe has accumulated in terms of productivity and innovation with its global competitors.
So, speaking of competitiveness, I would like to take this opportunity to provide an important update on the work that the Government is doing on a very important topic that is also animating our national debate: I am referring, in particular, to the automotive crisis. We are talking, as we all know, about a sector that is fundamental for the future and for the competitiveness of European industry. Yet, the picture we have before us today is anything but positive. The causes behind the difficulties of the sector are various, and, among these, certainly figures the having imposed a decarbonisation model based solely on electricity, which if confirmed would risk bringing the entire European automotive industry to collapse. For this reason, as Italy, together with the Czech Republic and with the support of other European partners, we have promoted an important initiative aimed at proposing an alternative strategy. The purpose of our initiative, contained in the non-paper for a new European automotive policy, promoted by Minister Urso, is to provide ideas and suggestions for urgent action at a European level and to avoid irreversible consequences.
We are immediately asking for the suspension of fines against manufacturers, fines that are already leading to the closure of important factories, precisely to avoid incurring those penalties, but in the medium term we are setting ourselves the more ambitious goal of reopening the chapter of technological neutrality, making all mature technologies usable that can contribute to reducing polluting emissions. We welcome the openings that are emerging in recent days from the words of the European Commissioner for Industry Séjourné, as well as from important political groups in the European Parliament. We hope to be able to make further and significant steps forward to correct a wrong trajectory, which is causing very serious difficulties.
Colleagues - and I come to the conclusion -, the next European Council also celebrates a very important symbolic anniversary: 50 years have passed since the first European Council in history. It was 1974 when the heads of state and government of the then European Community decided, during the Paris Summit, to formalize the practice of meeting periodically to discuss common priorities and jointly outline the political direction of the Union.
Since then, the world has changed profoundly, Europe has changed profoundly, Italy has changed profoundly. What cannot and must not change, however, is the need for a Europe that is aware of the role it has in history. The continent has not always shown that it knows how to cultivate this awareness, obscured, as it has been at times, by harmful ideological schemes and by too many rules imposed, perhaps precisely to compensate for the weakness of vision and strategy. After all, if we were to go back to 1974, we would find an idea of Europe very different from the one we have often seen realized. Aldo Moro, who participated representing Italy in that assembly, said that Europe is the place where Nations become greater, without losing their soul. It is a common home for differences. It is a reading that I share, it is a reading that I share much more than readings that I have heard much more recently, and then, perhaps, to move forward we must, above all, return to the origins of the project, and I believe that this European legislature gives us the historic opportunity to do so, because crises, as always, also hide opportunities.
It is up to us to seize those opportunities, and Italy, of course, intends to do its part to the fullest.
Thank you.