Premier Meloni, at the end of the extraordinary European Council, reiterated his no to the sending of Italian soldiers to Ukraine and excluded the use of national cohesion funds for the purchase of weapons. Rome has instead proposed that all the funds provided are intended at the expenses eligible for the calculation in the NATO area. The Italian request is that the Commission establishes an objective, homogeneous and transparent reporting mechanism of this type of expense. The premier is convinced that to be more acceptable from public opinion, the European plan should be linked to positive values, such as investments for cybersicacy, for infrastructures, for research and development. In this logic, the word “rearmament” seems to be not suitable. On the financial front, Italy also welcomed the German proposal to also reach an organic review of the stability pact which, in the judgment of Rome, should not stop at the subjects of the defense, but also understand other European public goods starting from competitiveness.
“But we will not use cohesion funds”
