Politics

Meeting at Palazzo Chigi

Meloni meets Nehammer: "Italy and Austria suffer from migratory flows, we work with synergy"

The Prime Minister receives the Austrian Chancellor and indicates the points in which the two countries are cooperating, including at European level. "Covid and war in Ukraine have changed priorities, considering their weight in the Stability Pact"

02/05/2023

"Regular cooperation with Austria is essential for us. We are two nations that suffer from the strong pressure of migratory flows and this has been one of the issues on which Austria and Italy have found themselves collaborating in recent months and intend to collaborate even more". This was stated by the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, at the end of the meeting at Palazzo Chigi with the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

Stressing that there is a "great synergy" between Rome and Vienna on the issue of immigration, Meloni added: "We will have an important European Council in June, in which the EU Commission will be called to present more concretely the paradigm shift and the related tools that we have asked for together in the defense of the EU's external borders, in the European management of migration flows, in attention to all routes, including the Mediterranean, the Maritime, which clearly cannot be dealt with like the others, but all routes and all external borders of the EU must be defended".

"On this - continued Meloni - we are collaborating and we will collaborate even more in the coming weeks. There is great synergy between us." On the other common points of work on the European agenda, the Prime Minister added: "Covid and the Russian aggression against Ukraine have changed the geopolitical scenario, including the economic one, and this issue cannot be ignored when defining the new rules on the Stability Pact".

"Europe - added Meloni - has set itself great goals, which we share, namely the energy transition, the green transition and also the same support to Ukraine against the war of Russian aggression is one of our priorities. Compared to the proposal we have seen from the Commission, we think that we cannot ignore the investments that are necessary for these strategies".

"It would be a short-sighted choice - the President of the Council observed - to focus on a green, digital transition, to focus on a greater capacity of the EU to invest in its own defense and then not take these priorities into account".