One of the longest talks ever (perhaps the longest ever) between the outgoing and incoming premier this morning preceded the bell ceremony that marked the handover between Mario Draghi and Giorgia Meloni and the formal installation of the FdI leader.
A face to face that lasted more than an hour, in which Draghi spoke to Meloni about the many open dossiers, starting with the results obtained at the last European Council on the energy issue.
The Prime Minister entered Palazzo Chigi welcomed by the Armed Forces' picket of honor, she was cordially welcomed by the outgoing premier Mario Draghi ("Welcome", he told her, " An emotionally impacting thing ", the FdI leader replied) at the entrance to the Sala dei Galeoni. Then the conversation between the two and the bell ceremony, initially scheduled for 10.30 and postponed by over an hour: it was held almost at noon.
Draghi left Palazzo Chigi to the applause of the employees.
Then the first Cdm ( HERE the list of 24 ministers) led by Giorgia Meloni to formalize the positions of deputy premier for Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani and to appoint Alfredo Mantovano as undersecretary to the presidency of the Council. The premier opened the summit with a "heartfelt thanks" to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.
The agenda is tight, Meloni already wants to close with the undersecretaries this week: "Now immediately to work", he tweeted yesterday after the oath , presenting the government team that " with pride and a sense of responsibility, he will serve Italy ".
"We must be united to face the emergencies that the country faces," said Meloni during the first face to face with his government team, which lasted about half an hour.
But the first controversies to be quelled have already started, in particular on the control of ports and the Coast Guard, which claim the Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini and that of the Sea Nello Musumeci . "We will have time to talk about the ports", the former Sicilian governor cut short.
For the new premier, the first international contacts have also arrived: Meloni reiterated to Zelensky that Italy will "always" be on the side of Ukraine, to Ursula Von der Leyen and the leaders of the European institutions he assured that the new government is " ready to collaborate ” with the EU.
(Unioneonline / L)