Recovery Fund, Mattarella sees Conte before the EU Council and asks for maximum efficiency and speed to reach an agreement

As often happens on the eve of major European events, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella received the premiere at the Quirinale Giuseppe Conte and some ministers before their departure to Brussels. In fact, the decisive EU Council meeting on the Recovery Fund: Heads of State and Government will have to reach a final agreement on the resource plan to counteract the effects of the pandemic and on the EU budget 2021-2017, under penalty of remission in the disbursement of funds. Mattarella then expressed all his support for to the work of Palazzo Chigi, thanking the government for the work done so far on the recovery fund and recalling that this is a problem decisive for Italy. The objective, according to sources from Colle, is to deploy the Maximum efficiency in resource allocation and maximum speed in identifying the options of the Member States.

The Minister of the Interior also attended the working lunch Luciana Lamorgese, the Minister of Economy Roberto Gualtieri, the colleague from Economic Development Stefano patuanelli, the owner of the Environment Sergio Costa, the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza, the Minister for European Affairs Vincenzo Amendola and the Undersecretary of State to the Prime Minister Riccardo Fraccaro. A replica of what already happened last July, when Mattarella met with Conte and the team of ministers before the decisive EU summit that led to the historic (albeit preliminary) Recovery agreement. For the Quirinale it is a way of supporting the Prime Minister in the difficult negotiations that will see him among the protagonists of the European scene. In recent weeks, in fact, the dialogue between the different EU countries has stalled due to requests from the European Parliament to further expand the resources provided for in the Union’s next seven-year budget. Numbers returned to sender by Germany, caught between the needs posed by hawks of rigor and the drive to do more from the states hardest hit by the pandemic. It will be up to the Council to find a seat, otherwise there will be less time to allow the various national parliaments to approve the agreement within a year.

During the interview at the Quirinale, Mattarella also expressed to Conte the need to reach a common european framework on anti-Covid measures that, however, respect the different specificities of each country. In this sense, during the meeting, the European and Italian commitment to vaccinate as soon as possible was recalled, especially thanks to the contact group between France, Holland, Germany and Italy. Then we talk about climate change and relations with Africa. Space also for Brexi, on which the Head of State confirmed with satisfaction the substantial unity of Commission and Council for a negotiation with Great Britain that allows a “good but fair” agreement, in the words of the prime minister. Climate change was emphasized considering realistic a reduction of 55 percent of Co2 emissions by 2030. Naturally, it has been recognized that there are countries that are promoting a most advanced agreement (including Italy, France, Germany, Spain) and others who believe they cannot, because the ecological industrial conversion it would cost too much.