Meloni: Europe is doomed to irrelevance unless it does less but better

Brussels – She was his fierce opponent, the only one, when he was in power. Now, Giorgia Meloni finds herself agreeing, as she puts it, with Mario Draghi about the analysis on one of the most critical government issues: the European Union. She perhaps agrees less on the solutions.

“The EU is increasingly doomed to geopolitical irrelevance, unable to respond effectively to the competitiveness challenges posed by China and the US, as Mario Draghi rightly pointed out from this very stage,” Meloni argued in her speech today (27 August) at the Rimini Meeting. “Many of the criticisms that I have heard regarding the current state of affairs I actually share—so much so that I have voiced them myself many times over the years, to the point of being harshly criticized by some of the same people now applauding,” the Prime Minister added.

The EU, argues the premier, “must restart with a political vision that has passion. It must reduce bureaucracy and support the competitiveness of businesses. Europe pragmatically has to do less and do it better,” is her recipe. 

On the opposite side is Nicola Zingaretti, head of the PD delegation to the European Parliament, according to whom “for Giorgia Meloni we need a Europe that does less, is divided, is stuck in the present, and therefore destined to be irrelevant. This is nothing new: it is further proof that Europe is at a standstill because of the nationalist right, which leaves us more isolated and weaker.” According to the MEP, “what we need today is the exact opposite. In the time of globalization and competition, we need the most ambitious Europe possible, not the bare minimum.”