Greek PM first meeting with Italy’s Meloni at Med-9

A week after the first telephone call between the two PMs’ offices at Maximou and Palazzo Kitzi since Mario Draghi’s successor took the helm of Italy, Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ first official face to face meeting with Georgia Meloni will take place on neutral ground. The two leaders scheduled a meeting for today, on the sidelines (before the start) of the work of the MED-9 meeting in Alicante, Spain.

The MED-9 is where the leaders of the Euro-Mediterranean countries (Greece, France, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia) are meeting for the first time after the Russian invasion of Ukraine at a critical moment for all of Europe, geopolitically and economically , but also in view of crucial consultations in Europe next week. First on 13 December at the extraordinary council of EU energy ministers and then on 15 December at the summit of the “27”.

A united front

Athens’ eyes are firmly on the eurozone’s third largest economy, and the Greek side has every reason to want to keep the so-called Southern front strong – and united. Something that Italy achieved under the leadership of the technocrat “super Mario”, increasing its influence within the European family.

But also strengthening the overall “voice” of the south against the icy North on a series of issues that directly touch Greek claims and interests: Energy and more broadly the economy, refugees, environment and climate change issues.

Sounding each other out

Now it’s time for… scoping out of the moods of Rome from Athens, after the change of baton in the prime minister’s palace. Close associates of Mitsotakis said that he had a single point of view on the “important things” with Draghi, hence the anxieties that arose immediately after his resignation about any sudden foci of instability. And this in a period of multiple geopolitical and economic pressures in Europe but also in a time when Greece is now dealing with threats of war from Turkey almost every day.

It is clear that the Greek side does not want to create gaps, let alone turmoil, with the Italian side, which it wants to place on the side of its allies. Hence Mitsotakis will bet on the further strengthening of bilateral relations. And this time efforts are expected to cultivate direct channels.

Greece’s strengthened voice

As much as the PM’s office wants to talk about the “strengthened voice” of Greece, it is clear that important decisions are passed through fermentation between the prime minister with big “players”. Fermentations either easier and more intense, as with French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, or more difficult, as with the socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who in the past has caused discomfort for his dealings with Turkey.