European Council meeting of 20-21 March: President Meloni meets with President von der Leyen

The President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, met with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, this morning.

The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the issues on the European Council’s agenda in depth, starting with boosting competitiveness and strengthening defence in all areas, focusing in particular on aspects relating to the funding of investments. In this regard, President Meloni stressed the need to focus on the involvement of private capital, for example through the InvestEU model, as proposed by Italy, as well as on truly common European instruments that do not directly add to states’ debt levels.