Italy considers today’s (Wednesday) meeting between Giorgia Meloni and Olaf Solz in Berlin particularly important. First of all, because everyone believes that with this intergovernmental conference, the already very close relationship between the two countries will be upgraded. Main topics of discussion are developments in the Middle East, immigration, the war in Ukraine and the future economic governance of Europe.

Of primary importance for Italy are the changes to the Stability Pact. The government in Rome insists that the rules for reducing the debt and deficit must be more flexible. Otherwise, there is a possibility that he will veto it. Meloni’s position is that investment – especially for green and digital technology – should not count towards the deficit figure.

Otherwise, as Italian commentators point out, Rome’s conservative government will not be able to go ahead with the tax cuts and pension increases it promised before the election. In other words, Italy insists that the new Stability Pact should be “sustainable”, mainly to the benefit of the Mediterranean countries.

The aim is to bridge the differences with Berlin

Today’s meeting, according to the intentions of the Italian side, should serve to bridge any differences with Berlin, so that Rome can cooperate equally, closely and unhindered, with both the French and German governments.

According to Italian government leaks, Meloni and her colleagues particularly appreciated the fact that the German chancellor did not proceed with a substantial criticism of the Italian-Albanian agreement, which provides for the creation of two closed centers for irregular immigrants, in Northern Albania.

Berlin and Rome agree that cooperation with the countries of transit and origin of migrants must be substantially strengthened. Energy is expected to be among the main topics of the discussion. And this is because Rome considers itself to be a geographically important energy hub, with important agreements on natural gas, with countries such as Algeria, while for the future, everyone’s interest is directed towards green hydrogen.