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Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (left) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin
Photograph:
HANNIBAL HANSCHKE / EPO
After initial problems with the new government, Germany and Italy want to work more closely together in the future. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have signed a joint "action plan" at the Berlin Chancellery.
The 37-page paper states that the aim is to coordinate more closely on key policy measures "at an early stage". According to the paper, there are no differences between the traffic light and the right-wing nationalist Italian government on central issues such as the course towards Russia or climate policy.
The heads of government and several ministers from both sides met in Berlin for so-called intergovernmental consultations. A number of projects were agreed in the "Action Plan":
Annual meetings of ministers, industry and banking associations, cooperations and projects in a wide range of areas such as migration, security, defence, energy, science, social policy or climate are planned.
Germany and Italy are to push ahead with new gas and hydrogen pipelines via Austria and/or Switzerland. The gas pipeline infrastructure to North Africa is to be expanded and the import of ten million tons of hydrogen is to be realized by 2030. Meloni spoke of a historic day in the Chancellery.
With her signature, Meloni pledged to "promote climate protection worldwide and support the ecological transition". This is an "urgent core task of our time, underlined by scientific findings and globally agreed within the framework of the Paris Agreement".
They will continue to coordinate closely on the Ukraine war, including a sanctions policy and support for Ukraine. Germany and Italy stand together "in the face of Russia's unprovoked, unjustified and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine".
The German-Italian "action plan" had already been agreed with Meloni's predecessor Mario Draghi in December 2021 to deepen relations between the two countries. The idea followed a friendship treaty signed earlier between Italy and France with the aim of the two countries working more closely together on issues such as the economy, security and migration policy.
These were the first German-Italian intergovernmental consultations since 2016. Such meetings of the heads of government and several ministers of both sides only take place with close partner countries or countries that are particularly important for Germany, such as China, India or Brazil.
Meloni and her right-wing nationalist party Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) have governed the country since the end of October 2022 together with the conservative Forza Italia party and the right-wing populist Lega. Not so long ago, there had been a dispute with Berlin over German financial aid for non-governmental organizations that rescue boat migrants from the Mediterranean and then bring them ashore in Italy.
Meloni had complained about this in a letter to Scholz in September. There was no more to be heard of it now. "We all know that we have to find a way to push back irregular migration," Scholz said.
hba/dpa