Meloni: Schengen can survive only if the EU defends its borders

Giorgia Meloni said Europe can preserve the Schengen area only by defending the European Union’s external borders and ensuring that every member state helps fight people smugglers and mass illegal immigration.

Speaking alongside Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever after their meeting at Palazzo Chigi, Italy’s prime minister said the two leaders had discussed migration management after what she described as a highly turbulent summer. The situation, she said, again tested Europe’s ability to respond to crises and manage migration flows.

Meloni also said the two governments agreed on the need to continue work aimed at making the interpretation and implementation of international conventions more effective, starting with the European Convention on Human Rights. She noted that Italy and Belgium had signed the Chisinau Declaration, describing it as a useful starting point and evidence of cooperation in recent months and years.

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I remain firmly convinced that it is possible to preserve the Schengen area only if the external borders of the Union are defended and if everyone does their part in the fight against people smugglers.

The talks also covered negotiations over the EU’s next multiannual financial framework. Meloni said the budget should match the new challenges facing the bloc. Italy’s position, she said, links traditional policies such as cohesion and the Common Agricultural Policy with the need to invest in competitiveness. Those priorities should not conflict, she argued, because cohesion and the agricultural policy create the conditions for stronger European competitiveness.

Meloni said the leaders discussed the effects of international crises on their economies and societies, including the impact of the situation in Hormuz on fuel, fertiliser and raw-material costs. She said the next European Council should address competitiveness and energy prices with “more courage and greater concreteness.” They also discussed the crises in Iran and Ukraine, including developments involving American envoys in Moscow and Kyiv.

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We agree with the president that at the next European Council we must return to the issues of competitiveness and the cost of energy, and that we must do so with more courage and greater concreteness.