The President of the Republic,
Sergio Mattarella
, meets, today at the Quirinale, the President of the French Republic
Emmanuel Macron
, as part of his visit to Rome for the signing of the "Treaty for enhanced bilateral cooperation".
THE TIMING
At
17:20
there will be the meeting between Emmanuel Macron and Sergio Mattarella, probably the last of the two in the seven-year term of the Italian president.
At
6:15 pm
Macron will have an interview with Prime Minister Mario Draghi at Palazzo Chigi: a 45-minute tete-à-tete, then a meeting extended to ministers and delegations.
At
19:30 the
French president will return to the Quirinale for an official dinner offered by the President of the Republic.
And tomorrow morning the actual signing ceremony will take place.
THE QUIRINAL TREATY -
No "predatory attitude" of France towards the Italian economy, but the common will to strengthen bilateral relations in the most disparate fields, from international to European politics, from cross-border cooperation between two police forces to culture, from the economy to defense. Sources in the Elysée specify the French objectives of the agreement and reject "what has been read in the Italian press" about the aims of Paris on slices of the Italian economy as "completely false". "What we would like to create - they underline - is not fear, but true mutually beneficial cooperation. And this is the scenario that the Quirinale Treaty will propose".
Moreover, the time is more than ripe to complete the bilateral initiative, launched in 2017, which since then has seen "several slowdowns" until the resumption of negotiations this year: the crisis between Rome and Paris is now "at our side. shoulders "and today the quality of relations between Italy and France is" exceptional ", they still affirm at the Elysée.
Between the two countries there is "a favorable alignment of planets", the sources add, not to mention a honeymoon, also due to the "closeness between Macron and Draghi", which translates into a relationship of "mutual trust and respect. ".