FLASH
Shkruar nga Simone Canettieri
The absence of the Italian Prime Minister at the summit on Ukraine and the Balkans is prompting new interpretations of relations with Paris, Berlin and London. The E3 format is advancing without Rome, while diplomatic tensions are growing over sensitive files like Bosnia. Palazzo Chigi speaks of an organizational choice, but the European scene is becoming increasingly fragmented.
How much geopolitics is hidden behind a postage stamp. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's decision to attend a ceremony to inaugurate a new postage stamp in the Prefecture of Reggio Calabria, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Carabinieri Army (a meeting that was not initially scheduled on the agenda), highlights the divergences between her and the three leaders of the "Willing" coalition (France, Germany and Great Britain), who will meet in London the next day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, without Italy.
It would be almost self-evident to talk about cooling off, if there weren't so much "political heat" here. Essentially, the government emphasizes that "this E3 format is encountering difficulties." It also remains "distant" in its approach from Meloni when it comes to sending troops to Ukraine, opening peace negotiations with Russia without the US, or accelerating Kiev's membership in the EU.
Could the postage stamp ceremony have been the reason for the Prime Minister's cancellation of her participation in the EU-Balkans summit on enlargement (a very important topic for her)? The government denies this and rejects any allusions.
However, at that meeting, the prime minister would have met, among others, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, two of the "engineers" of the leading axis for Ukraine that does not include Rome and that perhaps does not like Donald Trump's White House very much either.
"We'll see what happens," the executive says with a dose of skepticism, not wanting to give too much weight to a case that nevertheless remains difficult to mitigate. Italy-France relations continue to be competitive. Now there is also the race with Macron for the post of High Representative for Bosnia. In the race are the Italian ambassador Antonio Zanardi Landi and the French special envoy for the Balkans, René Troccaz.
The former enjoys strong support from the US, with support also from Japan and Turkey. The latter enjoys the support of Germany and the UK. This detail of alliances brings to mind Meloni's attempt to renew relations with the Trump administration, after a more turbulent period on the eve of the G7 summit in France and the NATO summit in Turkey. This also explains the visit of Defense Minister Guido Crosetto to Washington on Monday, June 15, when he will meet with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth (the two already spoke last week during a dinner at the Singapore summit).
But is this whole complicated scenario really hidden behind Meloni's absence, or is it just a "banal" organizational delay? The version of Palazzo Chigi dismisses any doubt. There is no diplomatic crisis, is the official line, which explains yesterday's absence in Tivat, Montenegro, a place that has nevertheless attracted attention with its armored port and filled with yachts and police forces.
"We were simply too ambitious with our agenda. The ceremony dedicated to the Army lasted longer than expected, also due to the reception for the Prime Minister, and when we realized that we would not arrive on time, we accepted the invitation to the prefecture, that's it," the government explains.
Meloni was scheduled to arrive in Montenegro at 3:00 PM on Friday according to her agenda (the summit would end 30 minutes later), in time to participate in the final session of the proceedings and then in the family photo that precedes the joint press conference of Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa.
But, after the ceremony in Reggio Calabria that ended after one o'clock, the Prime Minister decided "with regret" not to participate in the international event (notifying Montenegrin President Milatović and Costa), and went to the Prefecture where she stayed for about 30 minutes for the inauguration ceremony of the new postage stamp.
At 2:00 p.m., the state plane with her entire staff, including diplomatic and military advisers, returned to Rome. It landed in the capital at 3:30 p.m. and the prime minister was not seen entering Palazzo Chigi in the afternoon./ Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "Corriere della Sera"
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