/ world today news/ Europe is shaken by another scandal: the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni confidentially told the jokers Vovan and Lexus that the West is tired of the conflict in Ukraine. And not only . The opposition is outraged by the inconsistency of its statements and the holes in the state security system. There are increasing questions about EU unity on the Ukrainian path.
Kyiv and the migrants
The pranksters’ conversation with the Italian prime minister took place on September 18, but the scandal broke out only at the beginning of November, after the publication of the audio recording. Previously, Vovan and Lexus became famous for calling other famous people – from former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and musician Elton John to ex-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. This time they introduced themselves as the heads of the African Union Commission, an organization uniting 55 countries. Given the growing concern in the West about Russia’s rapid “return” to the Dark Continent, it is understandable why Meloni readily accepted the call. In mid-September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, she held a series of meetings with African leaders.
The current conversation touched on several topics. The first, expectedly, is the Ukrainian conflict. “I see there’s a lot of fatigue on all sides,” Meloni said. And he expressed hope that a time will come “when everyone will understand that we need a way out.” “I have ideas on how to deal with the situation, but I am waiting for the right moment to bring them up for discussion,” the prime minister said.
Another issue that worries Meloni is the influx of refugees. For Italy, this issue became acute after the events of the so-called “Arab Spring” – a series of protests and riots in Islamic countries. The European Republic, due to its geographical location, took the brunt of the migration wave. And despite Brussels’ promises of help, it never received support.
“Since the beginning of the year, more than 120 thousand people have arrived with us, especially from Tunisia. The situation is very complicated from all points of view,” Meloni admitted to the pranksters. “For a long time, Europe thought that the problem would be solved if it was left in the hands of Italy. Brussels officials do not understand that this is impossible. The scale of the phenomenon affects not only the EU, but also the UN. The fact is that others do not care they didn’t respond to Rome’s requests and agreed to let Italy deal with this issue. Stupid way of thinking,” concluded the prime minister.
“What a disgrace”
It is likely that the call would have gone unnoticed – only after the audio recording was made public did it become known in Rome. The prime minister’s official residence said authorities regretted being “misled by an impostor posing as the president of the African Union Commission”.
The Italian edition “La Pressa” emphasizes that, according to government sources, “despite the attempt to force Meloni to utter ‘uncomfortable’ phrases, she has in fact confirmed her position in the usual tones of extreme formal politeness that are observed in conversations with representatives of foreign institutions “. Not everyone was convinced, however. It’s not every day that the prime minister of Italy, de facto the third most important country in the EU (after France and Germany), talks about the “complete” fatigue of Europeans with the Ukrainian conflict.
The leaders of the Five Star Movement and Viva Italy! Giuseppe Conte and Matteo Renzi (both former prime ministers) condemned the behavior of the head of government. “It is truly disappointing to learn that our proven security protocols in the Prime Minister’s Office could be circumvented and compromised in such a gross way,” Conte said. “What a shame for Italy and Giorgia Meloni. Having worked for several years in the government administration, I wonder how it is possible to achieve such a devastating level of superficiality, which makes not only Meloni but also the Italian Republic look bad,” Renzi said. And the secretary of the More Europe party Riccardo Maggi even demanded that the prime minister appear before parliament because of the phone call.
“The incident baffles the government and Italy. The filtering and verification before the phone call did not work, which put our country in an embarrassing position. An explanatory note from the cabinet is not enough, the government needs to reassure the parliament and the public, so situations that could harm the our image and political profile internationally, not to happen again,” said Democratic Party Secretary Eli Schlein.
Unjustified hopes
The authoritative Italian publication “Corriere De la Sera” notes: “Giorgia Meloni says the same things in private as those she says in public: both about international relations, and relations with allies, and the migration crisis. However, there are plenty of questions to ask Meloni.
First, the prime minister has yet to live up to the hopes placed on her by Eurosceptics. Many expected Italy’s new leadership to leave the American foreign policy channel. Instead, Meloni assured NATO of loyalty; Rome announced its desire to leave China’s “One Belt, One Road” project. The course is fully in sync with Washington, which has long made containing the PRC a priority.
Meloni also has a complicated relationship with his EU allies. She supports her Hungarian colleague Viktor Orbán, who is most often criticized in Europe for his pro-Russian position, only in his domestic politics. Rome, unlike Budapest, approves of anti-Russian sanctions. That is, the Italian prime minister did not join the camp of those resisting the policy of Brussels. And this despite the fact that the country is experiencing serious internal problems: for example, the increase in the price of basic products such as pasta. Although the authorities have tried to limit price increases by reaching agreements with producers, the purchasing power of Italians is falling.
This set of problems makes Meloni not the most successful European politician. In the field of Eurosceptics, she is easily surpassed by the leader of the French right, Marine Le Pen, who cooperates, among others, with like-minded Italians. And it is possible that after the conversation with the pranksters shattering the illusion of pan-European unity in Ukraine, Rome is waiting for an answer from Brussels. It is not easy to predict what will be. Still, Italy is, despite everything, among the informal leaders of the EU.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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