The differences between the Government of Pedro Sánchez and that of Giorgia Meloni in Italy are evident, but also the interests that unite both countries, the third and fourth economies in the euro zone and the main beneficiaries of the European recovery plan after the pandemic.
The 19th edition of the Italy-Spain Dialogue Forum, which started yesterday in Rome, was the scene of the rapprochement between the two executives a week before the meeting that Sánchez and Meloni will hold on Wednesday, April 5, also in the Italian capital, a first bilateral meeting in the framework of the European tour that the socialist president is carrying out in view of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU that will begin on July 1.
The first day of the sessions, an almost annual initiative born in 1999 in which businessmen, politicians and institutions discuss the main issues that concern both countries, and organized by the former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and the former CiU deputy Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, was dedicated to two highly topical topics: the threat posed by the war in Ukraine and the need to take advantage of European aid to relaunch the digital transition.
The Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, traveled to Rome, who confirmed that Spain will carry out in the second half of the year the “first joint exercise” of the new European rapid deployment capacity, the military arm that the European Union (EU) will activate in case crisis with 5,000 troops to defend community interests. “If there is something important, it is that we no longer see the EU as an adversary of NATO”, she maintained, after remarking the role that Spain will have in this area during its community presidency.
Robles was accompanied by her Italian counterpart, Guido Crosetto, with whom she had a working meeting in the morning. “We are from different political coalitions but we are totally in tune with our common goals,†declared the Italian, speaking of issues such as strengthening the European presence in Africa. The Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence, Carme Artigas; the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri; the Italian Minister of European Affairs, Raffaele Fitto; the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi; the president of the Societat Barcelona d’Estudis Econòmics i Socials de Foment del Traball, Josep Sánchez Llibre; the CEO of Abertis, José Aljaro; or the assistant to the director of La Vanguardia, Enric Juliana.
