«Sand you want to go fast, run alone. If you want to go far, go with someone.” The African proverb quoted by President Sergio Mattarella during the opening dinner of Italy-Africa summit underway in the Senate it also fits well with Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen: the Italian prime minister and the president of the EU Commission are at their 11th official meeting and their agreement is no longer going unnoticed. For political and state reasons, of course, but perhaps also for a certain mutual feeling and a common axis already defined as “pragmatic”.
Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen, friends or allies?
It is the second time in a few days that Ursula von der Leyen returns to Italy alongside the prime minister: on 17 January she was together with Giorgia Meloni in Forlì, to give new EU support for the flooded areas of Emilia-Romagna and unlock further economic aid for reconstruction (the disaster caused 15 deaths, 40,000 displaced people and 9 million euros in damage). Who doesn’t remember the helicopter ride what the two presidents did last May while flying over the disaster areas? «It is very touching to be here again in Emilia Romagna after the devastation of the flood» declared von der Leyen during the meeting in Forlì. «His presence is a symbol of great seriousness and great concreteness» added Meloni gratefully.
From Emilia to Lampedusa
Before the Rome summit, the two presidents they had already seen each other in September 2023 in Lampedusa (at the invitation of the Italian Prime Minister after the summer landing emergency) e in July in Tunis, together with Mark Rutte, Dutch Prime Minister, and the President of the Tunisian Republic Kais Saied, again to discuss the issue of immigration. The agreement between the two, according to political analysts, could be of political convenience rather than character: seeon der Leyen will run again in the autumn to lead the EU and he may not have the support of his entire camp. For her part, Giorgia Meloni works on a leading role in Europe, now that Italy is also in the Presidency of the G7 for the whole of 2024.
Rome, the meeting between Giorgia Meloni and Ursula Von der Leyen at the Italy-Africa Summit, 29 January 2024 (Ipa).
What do Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen have in common?
But what are the personal points of contact between Ursula and Georgie? Their biographies speak of a life dedicated to politics: the German Von der Leyen is 65 years old, before taking the helm of the EU she was for 14 years a minister in the governments of Chancellor Angela Merkel and his heir to the CDU. Studies at the London School of Economics, of Evangelical-Lutheran faith, she had 7 children with her doctor husband Heiko von der Leyen, from which he took his surname. During his presidency he faced major challenges, from the Covid-19 pandemic to the conflict in Ukraine.
Giorgia Meloni, born in 1977, was born and raised in Garbatella, in Rome. At 21 she was elected councilor of the Province of Rome for the National Alliance, at 29 she became a parliamentarian, in 2012 she founded the Fratelli d’Italia party and in 2022 she becomes the first female Italian prime minister. She has a daughter, an ex-partner (Andrea Giambruno, from whom she distanced herself after the “scandal” of the videos released by The news spreads), is a professional journalist and lover of fantasy books (it is no coincidence that he called his party’s convention Atreju, like the character in the film The Neverending Story).
She was also the youngest minister in republican history: at the age of 31 she took over the Youth Department. Forbes magazine, in its latest ranking of the most influential women in the world, placed her in fourth place. Just one step back to…Ursula von der Leyen.
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