The President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, received the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, at Palazzo Chigi today, as part of the ongoing consultations ahead of the adoption of the EU Strategic Agenda 2024-2029 in June.
With regard to the European Union’s future priorities for action, Italy indicated, in particular, the strengthening of Europe’s competitiveness and economic resilience, common management of migration, security and defence cooperation and enlargement policy. President Meloni also stressed that a precondition to achieve these goals was the need to ensure adequate common resources to support the related investments.
The meeting also provided an opportunity for an exchange of views ahead of the special European Council meeting to be held on 17-18 April. President Meloni stated that the agricultural sector should be among the EU competitive resources in which to invest, at the same time as calling for swift implementation of both the revision of the Common Agricultural Policy and the measures to ease financial pressure on farmers agreed during the European Council meeting in March.
Further initiatives the European Union can take to support stability in Lebanon were also discussed, which will also be on the agenda for next week’s European Council meeting as per Italy’s request.