President Meloni’s telephone conversation with incoming European Council President António Costa

The President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, had a telephone conversation this afternoon with the incoming President of the European Council, António Costa, following today’s handover ceremony with the outgoing President, Charles Michel.

President Meloni once again offered President Costa her best wishes in his role, and went on to focus on Italy’s priorities in view of the European Council meeting in December, starting with the migration issue. In this regard, she stressed that the European Union must be able to count on an increasingly effective legal framework in order to manage asylum requests and return procedures for irregular migrants in an orderly manner, recalling in particular that, in October, the European Council had indicated the need for an urgent legislative initiative with specific regard to returns. A great deal of attention was therefore paid to the consolidation and further development of equal partnerships between the European Union and migrants’ countries of origin and of transit, based also on Italy’s Mattei Plan model, as well as the further strengthening of the fight against human trafficking.

President Meloni also expressed appreciation for President Costa’s recent announcement that an extraordinary European Council meeting will be convened for February in order to discuss the security challenges facing the European Union.

The two leaders agreed to maintain a close operational relationship on all the main issues on the European agenda.