The last summit of the 27 before the European Championships, for Giorgia Meloni, is also the first where Mario Draghi's shadow grows thickest. La Hulpe's speech, delivered by the former ECB president last Tuesday, intensified the rumors that he would be at the head of Europe, at the Commission or as Charles Michel's successor. A hypothesis which, in the government majority, risks being explosive also for the electoral campaign that is about to begin.
A hypothesis from which the Fdi leader chooses to keep her distance for now. "I'm happy that we're talking about an Italian but the debate on Draghi is philosophy. It's the citizens who decide", she underlined to reporters at the end of the summit.
But it is she herself, after all, who gives a political color to the press point that follows the meeting. After talking about yet another clash between the 27 that took place at the Europa Building, this time on the capital union, Meloni observes that the April meeting is the last one before the vote. "I hope that when we meet we will be faced with a different Europe", says the prime minister. Change: the electoral campaign of the Fdi leader, pressured by Matteo Salvini, prodded in Europe by Marine Le Pen and watched with growing attention by the rising right, can only be linked to this concept.
And perhaps not by chance, rather than dwelling on the authoritativeness of the former prime minister, he underlines another aspect to reporters: "what interests me is that both Draghi and Enrico Letta, who are considered two pro-Europeans, tell us that Europe is changed."
That Draghi is an inconvenient name for the electoral plan and for the majority balance of the governing parties is almost silent. This is demonstrated by the words of Matteo Salvini, according to which "the League has already made its sacrifices with Draghi and we have also paid for it". Or those of the FI group leader in the Senate Maurizio Gasparri who, despite respecting the former governor, maintains that EU summits should go "to whoever has the most votes". Yet, beyond the positions in the field, a certain political, economic and institutional establishment, in Italy and in Europe, is moving in the direction that would see the "formidable" - as defined by Emmanuel Macron - former Italian prime minister in one of the top EU jobs . Nothing will move before June 9th and, as a qualified European source explains, caution prevails for now.
But, immediately after the vote, it will be all a question of timing. With a first appointment to be circled in red: the leaders' dinner on 17 June. And none of Europe's greats will want to suffer a choice from others, especially if it involves Meloni and the Draghi option.
At the moment the favorite candidate remains Ursula von der Leyen, proposed by the People's Party which is on its way to winning the European elections. Meloni sees the outgoing President of the Commission on the sidelines of the EU summit and focuses on the issues that have most united the two leaders: migration, the Mattei plan and the need to increase repatriations. The axis between Meloni and von der Leyen is destined to hold a little longer but everything could change after the elections. On common debt, Green Deal energy supply, Meloni wants a change of direction. Meanwhile, he explains to reporters that it is wrong to tell foreign media about a country based on "inventions". On the issue of equal conditions, as well as on that of the imprisonment of journalists or on the purchase of Agi by Angelucci, the Prime Minister denies what she calls "a great fake news". She denies any "drift" on media control, she claims that her party has proposed removing and not introducing prison sentences for journalists. And even on abortion, which you have seen Rome and Madrid at loggerheads in recent hours, Meloni speaks of falsehoods.
"It's the left that wants to change 194, not us. We want to guarantee only free choices", are his words. Finally, on foreign policy, he appears to be fully in line with Europe. She assures that "every effort will be made" to provide adequate air defense to Kiev and appears "satisfied" with the inclusion of the Lebanese dossier in the conclusions of the summit, which is particularly dear to Palazzo Chigi.