A busy schedule of appointments today for Mario Draghi. At 9.15am the premier will meet the President of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, at Palazzo Chigi, while at 10am he will speak in the Senate, at the seventh Conference of Presidents of the Parliaments of the G20 countries. At 11 am the first control room on the Pnrr, on the topics: education, university, school. To follow, at 12, a press conference will be held at the Multifunctional Hall. Instead, the most awaited appointment of the day is scheduled for 13.30, the meeting with the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela Merkel.
The elections of 26 September last, which marked the end of the Merkel era and saw the Social Democrats resurrect after the blow of 2017 (first party before the conservatives), put Germany at a crossroads and lengthened the time for the formation of the new government . But today’s meeting takes on a strong symbolic value, it sounds like the passing of the baton to the leader who seems to be setting himself up as the new leadership of the European Union. Also in light of the presidential elections in France – April 2022 – which see the current president Emmanuel Macron anxious about reconfirmation at the Elysée.
Meanwhile Draghi pulls straight ahead on the reform front, while a very fierce Matteo Salvini who seems to lower his tone after the thrust against the prime minister’s decision to go ahead with the fiscal delegation despite the League’s halt. While on the one hand the leader of the Northern League clearly reiterates the presence of the League in government – “Letta and Conte if they come to terms with it” – on the other hand he opens a new front, returning to the debate on reopening: “Discos reopened , with the Green Pass, but only with 35% capacity? Teasing without scientific, health, social and economic sense, with these numbers 3,000 companies risk going bankrupt and 200,000 workers staying at home ”, thunders the head of the League.
Which also raises the bar on the tax bills. “A commitment that I personally ask President Draghi, I asked him already last March, is a decisive intervention. There are 120 million Equitalia tax bills that risk being a definitive blow in the post-Covid recovery for families and businesses” . “Every day his punishment”, comments a minister of the progressive front, and so the CDM that should be held between tomorrow afternoon and Friday on the reopening could hold new surprises.
From Brdo, where he took part in the informal EU summit, Draghi replied to Salvini, pressed by reporters who asked for an account of the clash at a press conference. “Yesterday, answering the same question, I said ‘ask Salvini’. Today he spoke and said that participation in the government is not under discussion: we will see you in the next few days”, he promised, recognizing the need for a meeting that at this point appears no longer postponable. As for the strength of his executive, Draghi has shown that he has no doubts, reserving what seems to sound like a jab: “The government goes ahead, its action cannot follow the electoral calendar”. Who has to understand, understand.
Draghi also responded to the individual accusations made by the Northern League on the tax delegation, the subject of the dispute. The land registry reform “is not a patrimonial”, he points out forcefully. “This government does not tax, it does not touch Italian homes. I said it from the beginning: this government does not increase taxes”, he reiterated.
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