EU must be concrete to start thinking big again says Meloni

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 12 - Premier Giorgia Meloni said Thursday that the European Union must take concrete action to boost its competitiveness if it is to "think big" and face up to today's international challenges after she hosted a pre-summit with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever before an informal meeting of EU leaders. "The challenge is to see whether the European Union can provide concrete, effective, immediate responses to competitiveness issues, because there's no more time to waste," Meloni told reporters after the pre-summit, which 20 of the EU's 27 States took part in. "And whether it wants to return to thinking big, as we hope". She denied reports that the recent joint initiatives she has taken with Merz were an attempt to sideline French President Emmanuel Macron. "There's certainly a German-Italian driving force on these issues; we're strengthening bilateral cooperation with Germany, but it's not something we're doing against anyone else," she said. "France was at the talks on competitiveness. "Merz's role is very positive, and I'm grateful because we're doing a good job". She added that she was in favour of the EU issuing 'eurobonds, which Macron has called for to finance investments in defence and artificial intelligence, while adding that the issue was "divisive". (ANSA). Read article...

By ANSA