Italy’s Meloni supports PM Orbán’s call for peace

Europe must recognise its own limits and give member states the tools to act independently, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in Budapest on Friday, ahead of an informal meeting of European Union heads of state and government.

Meloni supports PM Orbán’s call for peace

Although “many pretend that certain debates were just surfacing”, the issue of comptetitiveness had been on the agenda since Hungary published its programme for the presidency, as the US measures to protect their economy required an answer, she said.

“We must ask not what America can do for us but what Europe can do for itself,” she said, according to a statement from the Italian prime minister’s office.

Photo: FB/Orbán

The main focus is on the distribution of funds, “and whether we really want to give tools to member states to achieve their strategic goals.” Member states should have more independence in the matter of defence, too, she said.

She said she supported Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s call for peace in Ukraine, but said that “as long as the war lasts, Rome will stand by Ukraine.”

Michel calls for joint efforts to improve EU competitiveness

In the past months, the European Union has come to a concensus on cooperation to make the community more competitive both within the EU and with third partners, European Council President Charles Michel said in Budapest on Friday, ahead of an informal EU summit.

Michel said the Draghi Report, with its clear recommendations, was an excellent basis for discussion.

Answering a question, Michel said the recent US election had left the burning issues of climate change open, adding that the recent floods in Spain had pointed to the EU’s obligation to react fast in such situations.

Concerning the recent elections in Georgia, Michel raised a serious suspicion of fraud and said the process should be investigated.

‘Let’s protect our common European interests!’, Macron said

French President Emmanuel Macron, at a plenary session of the European Political Community’s summit held in Budapest on Thursday, called for a common approach to protecting European interests, saying that Europe “must write its own history”.

Macron said that a turning point had been reached in European history.

In connection with “the war started by Vladimir Putin” and technological advances taken by China, Macron said the question was whether Europe wanted “to read history written by others or write its own”.

The French president said economies of European member states and the bloc’s defence system were “strong”, noting that the EU was a bloc of 440 million people while the European political community represented 700 million people.

Macron urged Europe “not to disappear from geopolitics” and to take action “and protect together our European interests and to believe in our strategic autonomy and sovereignty.”

He said Europe should simplify its rules, boost its competitiveness through innovation and rethink its internal market, he said.

Speaking about the Russia-Ukraine war, the French president said that there were various standpoints on the issue, adding that “we have the same interest” in Russia “not winning this war”.

He called for the establishment of a European security area, with NATO playing in it a key role, and he warned Europe against “delegating its security to the Americans”.

Meanwhile, Macron called for effective solutions to the problem of illegal migration and urged an intensification of efforts in Europe to boost economic growth and Europe’s competitiveness through innovation.

He also urged the “real” integration of energy networks, decrying the lack of a uniform European approach in this area.

Macron called the European democratic model an important topic and urged Europe to review it, adding that a Europe was needed that simplified the rules, strengthened competitiveness through innovation and rethought its internal market, he said. Noting cyberattacks and manipulation in the Georgian and Moldovan elections reported by election observers, he also congratulated Moldova’s president-elect and added that Georgia looked towards Europe and had confirmed its commitment to democracy. Europe should rethink its own democratic model, he said, adding that democracy did not mean providing infrastructure alone; this would mean liberal democracies being “swept off the table”. Europe, he added, was capable of acting as a strong geopolitical power but it had ceded this role geopolitically and technologically to the US. Europe must take back control if it wants to be strong, Macron said. “There are herbivores and there are carnivores. If we remain herbivores, the carnivores will eat us. So I think it would be good if we were omnivores,” the president said.

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