While in Italy the last week of the election campaign begins, Prime Minister Mario Draghi flies to New York to attend the opening of the UN General Assembly.
In the speech scheduled for tomorrow in the Italian night (about 7.45 pm in New York) , on the same day as Macron and Scholz, the premier should reassure the allies on the firmly Atlantic position of Italy, whoever wins the elections, and ensure that the Country will not shirk its international commitments.
Primarily on Ukraine, with support for the defense of the invaded country and sanctions against the aggressor. Italy will continue to be part of the western front, united against Putin's war and the crisis triggered by the war. Without abandoning, despite the energy crisis, the ecological transition as the main tool in the fight against climate change, the other great challenge on the table of the United Nations.
Upon his arrival Draghi closes the ceremony of the Annual Award Dinner , after having received the World Statesman Award 2022 from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation: a rich parterre and the Laudatio by Henry Kissinger are expected. In the afternoon he will meet the President of the General Assembly, the Hungarian diplomat Csaba Kőrösi, after a late morning greeting to the 150 young people from all over the world who participate in the "Youth4Climate" event, organized by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Program of United Nations for Development (Undp), follow-up to last year's climate conference in Milan. In the evening, therefore, the speech to the General Assembly.
On Wednesday, however, the bilateral meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is scheduled for the afternoon, Draghi supported the intermediation for the unblocking of grain in Ukrainian ports. The last farewell as prime minister with Joe Biden - who will speak at the UN on Wednesday morning - at the gala organized by the American president with his wife Jill on Wednesday evening.
Finally, at the UN headquarters there could also be an opportunity to talk about the US dossier on Russian funds to European political parties and leaders in which Italy would not exist anyway, as Draghi himself clarified when talking about the phone call with Secretary of State Antony Blinken .
(Unioneonline / D)