Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni receives the President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen at Palazzo Chigi.
The premier welcomed von der Leyen in the courtyard of Palazzo Chigi with an affectionate exchange of greetings.
She shook hands in front of the photographers before going up for the interview.
A meeting was previously held between the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Romano Prodi.
The meeting, which took place in a Roman hotel, is part of the appointments that will see the EU leader engaged today in the capital.
At the Teatro Quirino, Von der Leyen took part this morning in the presentation of the book 'Wisdom and Audacity.
Speeches for Italy and for Europe' by David Sassoli with Prodi himself and Enrico Letta.
Subsequently, Von der Leyen went to Palazzo Chigi to see the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
The meeting with Prodi lasted about an hour, to discuss priorities that are "in the interests of Italy and Europe".
This is the clue coming from Brussels on the bilateral agreement between Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in which the Minister for EU Affairs, Cohesion and Pnrr Raffaele Fitto also participates.
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan is certainly among the main issues on the table.
In theory, Italy would like more time to fine-tune the targets agreed with the EU.
The problem for the government is not the quantity of resources but their absorption.
The EU will hardly agree to postpone the Next Generation deadline to beyond 2026.
But on the changes to the plan, the negotiation is open and, under the radar, it has already reached an advanced level.
L'
Italy is waiting for the Commission to give its assessment on the request for the third tranche of funds.
But the knot is long-term.
The country has an endemic problem of absorption of European resources, the increases due to inflation have complicated the situation.
In fact, the EU has made it possible to add a chapter to the plan, that of the RePower EU, under which Italy will be entitled to around 9 billion.
Rome wants a broader negotiation on the changes.
The legal framework is article 21 of the Next Generation Regulation, the red line suggested by the Commission is not to modify reforms and macro-objectives.
On the rest, the EU has already shown openings, also because Italy is not the only country to have requested changes.
Openings that von der Leyen could sanction 'vis a vis' with the premier.
If the Pnrr is a topic dear above all to Italy, the dossier on aid to EU industry is the challenge that von der Leyen has set itself between now and next summer.
The goal is to create a European Inflation Reduction Act in response to the US inflation law.
Brussels wants to avoid going into conflict with Washington by opening a dispute with the WTO but, at this point, it wants to respond with facts in two steps: a facilitated regime for state aid and a sovereignty fund to protect industry, again in the in the footsteps of the Green Deal.
Two complicated objectives, which will be on the table at the European Council on 9 and 10 February.
Rome is not against the idea but, in the meetings of the representatives of the 27 in the EU, it has already recalled the risk that lies behind a free-for-all on state aid: facilitating those with the greatest fiscal space, such as Germany.
a facilitated state aid regime and a sovereignty fund to protect industry, always in the wake of the Green Deal.
Two complicated objectives, which will be on the table at the European Council on 9 and 10 February.
Rome is not against the idea but, in the meetings of the representatives of the 27 in the EU, it has already recalled the risk that lies behind a free-for-all on state aid: facilitating those with the greatest fiscal space, such as Germany.
a facilitated state aid regime and a sovereignty fund to protect industry, always in the wake of the Green Deal.
Two complicated objectives, which will be on the table at the European Council on 9 and 10 February.
Rome is not against the idea but, in the meetings of the representatives of the 27 in the EU, it has already recalled the risk that lies behind a free-for-all on state aid: facilitating those with the greatest fiscal space, such as Germany.
At the leaders' summit in February there will be another hot dossier on the table, that of migration.
Von der Leyen and Meloni will also talk about it starting from a point on which, in reality, there has never been a difference between Italy and the EU: migrants at sea must be saved.
Progress could come in the short term on the external dimension of the dossier, on which the Swedish presidency wants to speed up.
The goal is to create a comprehensive repatriation plan and a Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for cooperating countries of origin, granting preferential tariffs for products being exported.
It is an uphill and expensive road on which, however, everyone in the EU is more or less in agreement.
An agreement which, however, remains distant on the relocation system, on which Italy is asking, inter alia
more, more responsibility on the part of the states that finance the NGOs operating in the Mediterranean.
The arrival of von der Leyen on the day when, in fact, the Commission is back in full swing, was not obvious.
However, the number one of the European executive wanted to pay homage to David Sassoli, and will speak at 11 at the Teatro Quirino at the presentation of the book 'Wisdom and Audacity', which collects the speeches of the former president of the Eurochamber.
Then, around 13, he will go up to Palazzo Chigi.
And in Rome a bilateral agreement is also foreseen with Romano Prodi who from 1999 to 2004 led the EU Commission.
However, the European executive wanted to pay homage to David Sassoli, and will speak at 11 at the Teatro Quirino at the presentation of the book 'Wisdom and Audacity', which collects the speeches of the former president of the Eurochamber.
Then, around 13, he will go up to Palazzo Chigi.
And in Rome a bilateral agreement is also foreseen with Romano Prodi who from 1999 to 2004 led the EU Commission.
However, the European executive wanted to pay homage to David Sassoli, and will speak at 11 at the Teatro Quirino at the presentation of the book 'Wisdom and Audacity', which collects the speeches of the former president of the Eurochamber.
Then, around 13, he will go up to Palazzo Chigi.
And in Rome a bilateral agreement is also foreseen with Romano Prodi who from 1999 to 2004 led the EU Commission.
