Today summit on Albania. Towards the resumption of migrant transfers after the Supreme Court ruling

“It seems to me to be a fact that the object of Salvini’s trial was his political choices rather than actual crimes and that jurisdiction was used to influence politics.” From the frozen Finnish Lapland, at the end of the first North-South summit Giorgia Meloni returned to comment on the ruling on the Open Arms case. The Prime Minister answered journalists’ questions in a press point with the Finnish Prime Minister and host, Petteri Orpo, the Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security , Kaja Kallas.

Salvini can therefore return to lead the Interior Ministry after the acquittal? “Both he and I are happy with the excellent work being done by the Minister of the Interior”, Matteo Piantedosi, replied the prime minister. And as for the topic of migrants“it seems to me that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government: it is the right of governments to establish which countries are safe” while the judges can “enter into the individual case, but not completely disapply” what has been decided by the executive, underlined Meloni when announcing that I have called a meeting for today, Monday 23 December meeting on the topic of Albania to understand how to proceed” after the stoats’ decision. When asked whether the European list of safe countries will arrive by March, Meloni replied that “it will take more time”.

Thanking Orpo for organizing the summit, which “was not just a formality, but a very important and very innovative initiative in the way of thinking within the EU”, Melons noted that the four participating nations “have often been seen and found themselves on opposite sides in the EU, with the North and the so-called frugal on one side and the Southern nations on the other, accused of being ‘spendthrifts’, which I believe is a prejudice. The fact that these nations are here now to talk about how to respond to the main challenges ahead, shows that we have understood that the world has completely changed and we cannot face the challenges if we do not understand the point of view and the difficulties of others”.

“We want defend external borders and we don’t want to allow Russia or criminal organizations to undermine our security“, Meloni then added, underlining that regarding Russia “we must understand that the threat is much greater than we imagine, whether it concerns our democracy, the exploitation of immigration or what is happening in Africa. We have to ensure security and it’s not just the war camp in Ukraine, we have to be prepared.” “La NATO remains the cornerstone of our securityeven more so after the accession of Finland and Sweden”, continued the prime minister. Finally, regarding the relationship with the USA: ”

Gli scenari a Washington

“There is a lot of discussion about what will happen with Trump. I don’t think about what America can do for us but what we can do for ourselves. We need to strengthen our security and defense and we need tools, we have different starting points, we need to meet halfway.” “In my opinion, we shouldn’t follow the rumors about Trump: for example, I heard the latest thing he said about Ukraine: ‘We’re working for peace but we can’t have peace by abandoning Ukraine,’ which is pretty much what I’ve been saying for years. I would wait to understand exactly what the will of the new president of the United States is”, Meloni then said, responding to those who asked for a comment on Trump’s request to raise the countries’ contribution to NATO to 5% of GDP.

European defense

“European defense must be strengthened” and to do so we must “explore every financial option”, said Orpo, underlining that the EU must continue to “support Ukraine as long as necessary”. Finland “has 1,300 km of border with Russia. Securing that border is an existential question for Finland, for European partners and NATO allies”, he continued.
“The discussions in this summit with Petteri Orpo, Giorgia Meloni, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and with Ulf Kristersson were very good. We all agree that Europe must do more to defend itself and prevent war. Next year we will propose ideas at European level for greater defense cooperation, increased capabilities and financing.”