#Agenda meloni

[ragazzadellearance]

Io la Meloni non la capisco: prima si fa chiamare IL presidente, perché, boh, il femminile sta male, poi si fa la foto con agendina stile 3a elementare, con tanto di segnalibro col nome e stellina finale

[mutt-the-miracle]

in the summer, he takes you, i watch you go / what is your fate, my child? / i will never really know

[ifattinews]

Governo. Salvini detta le sue priorità: Difesa confini, Flat tax, Pace fiscale, Quota 41

Il nuovo esecutivo di governo è subito ad una prova importante in vista della Legge di Bilancio, ma il vicepremier Salvini pressa ulteriormente per quelle che secondo lui sono delle priorità. Il leader del Carroccio pone in cima alla lista delle cose da fare alcuni punti che ritiene indispensabili. L’abolizione della legge Fornero con l’introduzione di Quota 41, la Flat tax al 15% e la Pace…

[coochiequeens]

She's right and she should say it.

Apr 12, 2024

MELONI-SURROGACY:Surrogate parenthood is 'inhuman', Italy's Meloni says

Surrogate parenthood is an "inhuman" practice that treats children as "supermarket products," Italy's prime minister said on Friday, urging parliament to pass a bill to prosecute those who go abroad for it.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni remarked about surrogate parenthood being 'inhuman' during an event. (REUTERS)

Parenting via surrogacy is already illegal in Italy, punishable with jail and fines, but the right-wing coalition of Giorgia Meloni has vowed to impose an even stricter ban on it as part of its conservative agenda.

"No one can convince me that it is an act of freedom to rent one's womb, no one can convince me that it is an act of love to consider children as an over-the-counter product in a supermarket," she said at an event in Rome.

"I still consider the practice of uterus renting to be inhuman, I support the proposed law making it a universal crime."

The Italian parliament is discussing a bill drafted by Meloni's Brothers of Italy party to prohibit Italians from having a baby in countries where surrogacy is legal - such as the United States and Canada.

The party's position echoes the Vatican's.

The bill, approved by Italy's lower house Chamber and now at the Senate, has been criticised by rights groups and some opposition politicians who see it as targeting LGBTQ people.

"The issue cannot be tackled with universal prohibition, but with regulation that balances the rights at stake," ex-foreign minister Emma Bonino told daily Corriere della Sera this week.

[azaelyas]

it is my mission to spread my Raihan+Gordie as absolute besties for life agenda

They are both social media influences with a huge fanbase, so I love to imagine them as online-rivals, real world-besties, though Gordie is certainly aiming for the Strongest Gym Leader title

They are also both fashion icons. Tell me they haven't spent hours shopping for high-end clothes together.

Pokemon Masters EX read my mind and have also made them besties and it just. works so well?

there's no reason for this one i just like raihan's pretty profile here

and they both Fear Melony which just TICKLES me

AND they work together during the Special Day with the Guys event to make some fanservice, AND they team up first during the Galar Neo Champion event, AND Raihan cheers on Gordie in a battle against Piers, AND

please just join me in my besties agenda i am dying alone

[crossdreamers]

Gender researcher Judith Butler talks to The Financial Times about transphobes

Financial Times has interviewed the renowned non-binary gender theorist Judith Butler about sex, gender and the culture wars. She has a new book on the way called Who’s Afraid of Gender?

The original article is found here. There is an open access copy of it available over at Archive.today.

Henry Mance asks:

What is a woman? Butler responds:

“I don’t answer that question, but I point out that that question is looking for a kind of certainty, and in that way it’s trying to stop history, or it fails to recognise the category of women has gone through many changes and hopefully will go through some more.” How exactly has the category of women changed? Butler refers to the emergence of muscular female tennis players starting with Martina Navratilova. “There was a time when, if you were a woman playing tennis, you didn’t look like that.” 

Butler used California’s policy of self-ID in 2019 to register their legal identity as non-binary:

“I thought why not occupy the shelter I built? I’m still a little suspicious of categories — we occupy them, they occupy us . . . I don’t like the idea of being fully captured by a category.”

Mance points out that in the US, 5 per cent of adults under 30 say their gender is different from their sex assigned at birth, compared to 0.3 per cent of over-50s:

Butler argues that trans people are scapegoated just like migrants. Demonising gender diversity is “central” to Meloni-style populism. “Without that terrifying motivation, I’m not sure that the other parts of that economic and political agenda will work.” Butler’s message to the public is calm: “What are they frightened of exactly? They can continue to have their lives exactly as they have.” 

In Who’s Afraid of Gender? Butler attacks feminists such as author JK Rowling who argue that sex is binary. Mance writes:

Rowling and supporters call themselves “gender critical feminists”, but Butler says they don’t meet the academic definition of criticism. So ironically, given Butler’s commitment to self-identification, they call these critics “Terfs” — trans-exclusionary radical feminists — a term that many of them find offensive. “I think I’m respectful,” Butler insists.

Read the whole interview here.

Illustration: The Financial Times

See also:

Feminist philosopher Judith Butler is crystal clear in her condemnation of transphobic feminists

Renowned Feminist Philosopher Judith Butler Tears Transphobic Feminism Apart

Feminist philosopher Judith Butler goes up against anti-trans and anti-gender feminists and conservatives

[mariacallous]

As 400 million Europeans get set to elect 720 EU parliamentarians in June, polls are predicting big gains for right-wing populists. As a result, for the first time since the European Parliament was directly elected in 1979, it is expected to have a solid majority on the right. This will mark a “sharp right turn” for Europe, the European Council of Foreign Affairs (ECFR) recently noted. The consequences for European politics and policy are already coming into view.

The center-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the left-leaning Socialists and Democrats party (S&D) are again expected to finish in first and second place, although both may lose a handful of seats. The EU’s far-right groups, Identity and Democracy (ID) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), will improve their tally mainly at the expense of liberals and Greens. According to ECFR, populists are likely to be the top vote-getter in nine countries, including Austria, the Netherlands, France, Hungary, Poland, and Italy. In nine others, including Spain and Germany, they could emerge as strong second or third-place contenders.

ID—which includes the main anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic parties in Germany (Alternative for Deutschland or AfD), France (National Rally), and Italy (the League or Lega)—is likely to become the EU parliament’s third-largest group after elections are held between June 6 and 9. The ECR is led by Georgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister and leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, and is home to Sweden’s Sweden Democrats and Poland’s Law and Justice party (PiS). If authoritarian Hungarian leader Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, a member of the EPP until a few years ago, joins the ECR as expected, the far-right could claim a quarter of the total seats.

Political machinations already seem to be underway among some establishment parties to create cooperation with this newly powerful bloc. Experts say if the EPP, the strongest conservative party in the EU, welcomes far-right politicians in its fold or co-opts their policies, as it has lately been accused of, the balance of power in Europe will decisively shift to the right and have major implications for not just the EU’s common agenda but may also influence how member states decide critical policies.

“I think in our campaign we will ask the EPP to be pragmatic, to pick the alternative to a center-left majority,” Marco Campomenosi, a Lega politician and the head of the Italian delegation in ID, told Foreign Policy.

Experts say any such shift will have major implications for the EU as a whole, tainting its recent promises to pursue a humane migration policy and to establish rule of law at home that encourages democratic checks and balances. An empowered far-right may also keep coordination on a common defense policy to the bare minimum in the face of a looming threat from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The EU’s flagship Green Deal climate framework, which has set a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, is also at stake, as the populists try to push the EU to erode its commitment to renewable energy development and other climate policies.

Charlie Weimers, a member of the far-right Sweden Democrats that supports Sweden’s minority center-right government, said, his party’s priority is to push for a “Migration Pact 2.0,” with more stringent measures to stop the influx of immigrants than already listed in the new migration pact. “We need to stop asylum,” he told FP over the phone. “We need breathing space to deal with the immigrants already here otherwise we can never catch up.”

Lega’s Campomenosi said, “it’s not about the money” but about the “trouble” immigrants make. (Under the new migration pact an EU member state which refuses to accept an asylum seeker should pay a sum of 20,000 euros to an EU fund.) “If there are too many immigrants they can’t be integrated,” he added.

Three far-right parliamentarians told FP that with bigger numbers in Parliament they will be able to apply more pressure on the EU commissioner to throw out or dilute the green deal.

It “needs to go away,” Joachim Kuhs, the acting head of the AfD delegation in EU which is polling as the second strongest party in Germany, told FP in his office in the parliament. “It should be repealed and replaced,” Weimers added.

The liberal groups say the center-right has strengthened the far-right by co-opting its policies and forming alliances in individual member states.

Pedro Marques, a vice president of the S&D group, said the EPP parties have been “eroding the Cordon Sanitaire,” erected to keep the far-right out of governments and important positions. “The EPP is dancing with the far right,” he added, with grave consequences for the future of the union.

The cordon sanitaire is crumbling in many European nations. In Italy, the far-right is in power, in Sweden the center-right government is backed by the far-right. In Austria, center-right and far-right have been in a coalition, and the latter is polling ahead of all others in the run up to national elections. In France, Marine Le Pen is leading the polls, and in Germany, the conservatives have hinted at future cooperation at a regional level with the far-right AfD.

The legitimization of the far-right isn’t limited to member states. Ursula Von Der Leyen, a member of the EPP and EU commissioner, has alluded to Meloni’s inclusion in her grouping. She said it wasn’t clear which parties will remain in the ECR after the elections and which will leave, and “join EPP.”

Hans Kundnani, writer of a book called Eurowhiteness, said the boundaries between the ID, ECR and the EPP have always been “very fluid.”

“As soon as Meloni indicated she won’t be disruptive in the Eurozone, that she won’t be pro-Russian, centrist pro-European EPP said that’s great, we don’t mind,” Kundnani said. “The center right has no problem with far-right at all, they just have a problem with those who are Eurosceptic.”

Experts say Von Der Leyen has often backed off on key policies to appease the far-right. Just over the last few months as the farmers protested against the provisions of the green deal, the far-right found another issue to mobilize against mainstream parties. During election season, Von Der Leyen quickly conceded and granted several concessions to the agriculture sector that will affect the 2050 net zero target.

The best example of how the EU commissioner validated the far-right’s worldview, Kundnani argued, was when she created a post for an EU commissioner to promote a European way of life.

“The big theme of the European far-right is that the immigrants threaten European civilization,” he said. When Von Der Leyen created the position, she framed “immigration as a threat to the European way of life,” and in doing so legitimized the far-right.

It is unclear if co-opting the far-right’s talking points benefits the center right in keeping their traditional voters from moving towards populists, but there is an emerging consensus that it strengthens the radical right in the longer run. For its part, the far-right has moderated its own positions on many issues to appeal to the voters more to the center. The far-right parties say they are no longer calling for an exit from the EU, but merely to reform it from within. They say they back Ukraine and not Putin.

Many parties on the far-right advocate return of border controls in violation of the EU’s founding principle of free movement of people and goods. Last year, the AfD described the EU as a “failed project,’’ while Sweden Democrats said they had “good reasons to seriously reevaluate our membership in the union.” There is still a lingering suspicion that the rank-and-file members of the far-right parties harbor sympathy for Putin. Last month, Lega’s leader Matteo Salvini deflected when asked if he blamed Putin for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s sudden death.

The parliamentarians of the ID and ECR with whom FP spoke expressly rejected Von Der Leyen’s proposal to appoint a dedicated defense commissioner to improve coordination among member states on matters of defense.

“We say that we want to manage immigration in a humane way, we can do better to manage the borders,” added Marques of the S&D. In response to the far-right’s demand to externalize the screening of asylum seekers, he said it was difficult to find credible partners. “We did this agreement with the Tunisian authorities, but when we tried to go there to check the conditions, to see how European money will be spent, they said we don’t want your agreement anymore. These have to be credible partnerships.”

The center-left S&D party simply dismisses the moderated stances of far-right parties as a charade. They believe the far-right simply wants the benefits of being in the union, not the costs that sometimes come with upholding its values. “They want an EU without the rule of law, without humanity,” Marques said. “That’s not what we built after the Second World War. They want to change the EU into something that it isn’t. Their values are not European.”

[zvaigzdelasas]

U.S. President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met at the White House on Thursday, vowing to deepen economic ties and strengthen cooperation on challenges posed by China, while skirting differences [sic] over LGBTQ rights.[...]

Meloni and her right-wing coalition have staked out positions on abortion and LGBTQ rights sharply at odds with those of Biden, a Democrat who used last year's Italian election results as an occasion to warn fellow liberals about dangers facing the world's democracies. On Thursday, Biden welcomed Meloni and said they had "become friends," and Meloni later told reporters that neither he nor the several U.S. lawmakers with whom she met brought up LGBTQ rights. "Nobody asked me anything on this," she said. Meloni said she had a clear preference for Republicans, but that would not stop her from having "a great relationship" with Biden.[...] During a small portion of the meeting open to reporters, Biden complimented Italy on what he said was its strong stance on Ukraine. Meloni said she was proud that Italy has helped defend international law. [...] Meloni must decide in coming months over whether to maintain Italy's membership in Beijing's Belt and Road (BRI) infrastructure plan, a program which Washington has been working to counter. [...]

The Biden-Meloni meeting took place less than a week after she hosted an international conference on migration in Rome, as Italy tries to cope [sic] with a high volume of migrants arriving by boat from North Africa. Italy was planning to discuss with the U.S. how to support [sic] the development and stability of Africa, Meloni's office said.

27 Jul 23

[beardedmrbean]

ROME, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited on Wednesday a new exhibition on British novelist J.R.R. Tolkien, whose globally popular books have also become a cult in Italian right-wing circles.

The exhibition "Tolkien. Man, Professor, Author" was inaugurated at Rome's National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, marking 50 years since the author's death, and includes letters, memorabilia and manuscripts.

The museum's website calls the show "an unparalleled journey" into the greatness of Tolkien that would allow visitors to understand "how his life and extraordinary knowledge of the ancient world underpinned his creativity."

"This is a fine page of culture," Meloni told reporters following the visit.

Meloni, who became prime minister last year, began her political career in the youth ranks of the far-right, post-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) in the early 1990s, where Tolkien's books were a cultural touchstone.

They credit the novels with helping them rebuild a shared conservative identity that allowed them to distance themselves from the infamous fascist wartime dictatorship of Benito Mussolini.

They portray Tolkien's work as embodying their struggle to defend tradition and cultural roots against the threats of a progressive agenda centred on unregulated globalisation.

Tolkien published "The Lord of the Rings" in 1954 and 1955, an immensely influential trilogy that is considered by many to be the defining work of fantasy fiction. He resisted those who sought allegories in his writing, and has fans across the political spectrum, including leftists like former U.S. President Barack Obama and author Stephen King.

In her autobiography "I am Giorgia," Meloni recalled organising carnival parties with her fellow militants where they dressed up as characters from the saga, including hobbits - small, easy-going folk who populate Tolkien's Middle-earth.

In the book, Meloni remembered how she dressed up as loyal hobbit Sam Gamgee. She said he was her favourite because he did not risk his life for glory but to change the world.

The show will be open in Rome until February and will then move to Naples and possibly to other Italian cities, the culture ministry said.

[albertoblog]

L’ultima cera

Putin: “La morte di Berlusconi è una perdita irreparabile”. Non fare così, tra poco vi rivedrete.

Interrotte tutte le trasmissioni Mediaset. Ma non illudetevi.

Tutte le testate mondiali omaggiano Berlusconi. “È morto quello delle troie”.

Toccanti le parole di Gerry Scotti: “Berlusconi è stato un grande A) imprenditore B) politico C) amico D) visionario”.

Giorgia Meloni arriva in serata ad Arcore. Si vede che non c’è più Fede a fare selezione.

Il ricordo di Umberto Bossi: “Fhr fhhh, sh frrrrsss pffff”.

Ignazio La Russa: “Da oggi l’Italia è più povera”. Marta Fascina: “Parla per te”.

Giorgia Meloni ha annullato tutti gli impegni istituzionali. Ora ha la stessa agenda di Salvini.

Lo Stato organizzerà i funerali di Berlusconi. Mi pare giusto restituirgli il favore.

Stefania Craxi: “Berlusconi martire della giustizia come mio padre”. Mi sembra appropriato ricordarlo con una barzelletta.

Sulla torre di Mediaset compare la frase “Ciao papà”. Se la fama di Berlusconi è vera potrebbe averla scritta chiunque.

Antonio Razzi non è stato fatto entrare ad Arcore. In Parlamento furono meno selettivi.

Arriva il cordoglio di Fassino. Quindi ancora non è detto.

(Spinoza.it)

[fridagentileschi]

Meloni come la Merkel: sempre più a sinistra: islamizzazione sbarchi migrazioni e niente per l'Italia...piano kalergi e agenda 2030. La fine dell'occidente. Giusto Angela può essere fiera di te.

[morganadiavalon]

(Faccio la premessa necessaria? Serve davvero? La faccio. Questo post non intende, ripeto NON INTENDE essere un post di giubilo verso l'eventualità di avere Meloni premier - o qualsiasi altro fascio assortito).

Sul social delle foto e dei reels, dove sono tutti inclusivi e progressisti, ho visto un meme nel quale, dopo aver elencato tutte le donne esponenti di partiti di destra / conservatori che sono al momento in cariche apicali o in lizza per raggiungerle, si concludeva: "Anche se potrebbe sembrare, la Destra non ha sconfitto il patriarcato, lo ha solo redistribuito".

Ebbene, qui che siamo invece nel mio personale svuotatoio gretto e ignorante, mi permetto di dire che non vedo dove stia scritto che le donne al potere debbano - proprio per contratto - essere migliori degli uomini al potere.

È lo stesso patriarcato che porta avanti la narrazione delle donne docili, remissive, altruiste, portate verso il ruolo di cura, solidali, di buoni sentimenti e insomma "migliori" degli uomini.

Forse qualcuno ha frainteso il concetto di pari *opportunità* (nella contemporaneità si tratta di pari opportunità di fare schifo uguale).

Salvini e Meloni sono espressione dello stesso identico potere e perseguiranno la stessa identica agenda quindi che lei sia una donna, non fa effettivamente una differenza sostanziale, ma perché dobbiamo preferire competizioni di uomini che fanno schifo a competizioni miste di persone che fanno schifo?

Inoltre non capisco perché gli uomini hanno avuto a disposizione praticamente millenni di storia per arrivare a capire che si può essere anche persone decenti e invece alle donne viene richiesto dopo nemmeno 100 anni che ci affacciamo nella Storia Mondiale.

[arcobalengo]

"KKR VICINA ALL'ACQUISTO DI TIM".

Teoricamente non avremmo un governo di "destra" che dovrebbe tutelare gli interessi nazionali?

Meloni e i suoi hanno presente chi sono questi di KKR? Si rendono conto di cosa significherebbe vendere anche TIM a questi signori?

Eppure dovrebbero saperlo, perché da anni li informiamo di cosa sta facendo questo fondo con le aziende che acquisisce. Basti vedere cosa sta combinando con l'ex Magneti Marelli, drasticamente dilaniata proprio da quando è stata venduta da Exor degli Elkann al fondo americano KKR.

Una azienda con 100 anni di storia industriale italiana e una presenza di migliaia di lavoratori è stata assalita da questi signori che hanno cominciato a farne carne da macello.

La loro astuzia sta nel fatto che fanno tutto sottotraccia e nessuno si accorge di nulla, a parte chi vive la cosa dal di dentro.

Cosa fanno costoro? In breve tempo iniziano a far saltare le dirigenze e ci mettono i loro uomini, poi cominciano a delocalizzare pezzo dopo pezzo attuando, in accordo con i sindacati, dei licenziamenti "volontari". Cosa prevedono questi "licenziamenti volontari? In pratica danno incentivi in denaro a chi vuole andarsene, così i più qualificati prendono questi soldi e il giorno dopo vanno a lavorare altrove, spesso nella concorrenza.

Pian piano quelli che rimangono, abbandonati a se stessi e senza prospettive, se ne vanno da sé e loro iniziano a chiudere stabilimenti con la scusa della riduzione dei costi fissi. Peccato chiudano proprio le ricerche e sviluppo, ciò che una azienda seria non dovrebbe mai fare, pena la fine di ogni possibilità di business e di crescita.

Queste attività distruttive viaggiano bene in quanto sottotraccia, sono talmente furbi che mentre fanno queste operazioni mettono annunci sul web di ricerca di nuovi dipendenti, in modo che da fuori l'immagine dell'azienda rimanga pulita.

In realtà appunto, costoro annientano competenze italiane di primo livello che da sole creerebbero economie di scala.

Altra cosa, questi signori, che seguono l' agenda 2030, spesso giustificano il tutto con il fatto che ci sarebbe una "transazione ecologica in atto". Balle, le competenze elettroniche, per esempio, sono applicabili in qualsiasi ambito industriale, è solo questione di volontà ed obiettivi.

Quali sono quelli di questi signori? Comprare marchi italiani, distruggere il comparto nostrano e rivendere il pacchetto ridotto a qualcuno col nome prestigioso? Chi li commissiona per fare queste operazioni? Sono meccanismi che continuiamo a vedere in tante aziende alle prese con fondi di tal genere.

Ora, di fronte a questi meccanismi un governo serio dovrebbe intervenire, anche perché ribadiamo, è stato già informato di ciò, tanto è vero che Meloni si mostrò critica nel momento in cui seppe dell'interesse di KKR per TIM.

Governo, sappiamo che siete troppo impegnati a mandare le armi in Ucraina in questo momento, ma ditecelo chiaramente: vi interessa la salvaguardia dell'interesse nazionale, mediante la protezione delle aziende industriali nostrane? O siete lì a fare il solito circo finto nazionalista per poi proseguire con le agende mondialiste?

WI

[superfuji]

Il nuovo bipolarismo non prevede programmi elettorali sensati

Gianfranco Pasquino

Giorgia Meloni teme giustamente che Berlusconi e Salvini si siano già messi d’accordo  per tradire l’impegno che chi prende più voti andrà a Palazzo Chigi.

Nel bene, la coerenza politica della leader di Fratelli d’Italia, all’opposizione, e programmatica, atlantista più sovranista che europeista, è fuori dubbio.

Lei, la sua figura è il programma, facile da capire, facile da votare anche se il fantasma del fascismo eterno non può essere esorcizzato.

Molto ipocritamente Silvio Berlusconi, che ha sempre impostato, e talvolta persino vinto, le campagne elettorali sul suo nome e sulla sua persona fisica: “il corpo del leader”, afferma di non appassionarsi alla ricerca della candidatura del centro-destra a Palazzo Chigi.

Lui sta lavorando al programma, sapendo che non è affatto facile produrre altre proposte mirabolanti come quelle del lontano Contratto con gli italiani del 2001 (e trovare un conduttore televisivo accomodante come Bruno Vespa che gli offrì tutta la sceneggiatura possibile).

Tuttavia, il milione di alberi (trascurando che nel Piano di Ripresa e di Resilienza ne sono già previsti sei milioni) e i 1000 Euro al mese di pensione minima per tutte le nostre nonne e mamme è già un bel programma.

No, Berlusconi non scrive programmi. “Spara” priorità incontrollabili. Forse gli italiani, a giudicare dai sondaggi che danno Forza Italia in netta flessione, gli hanno preso le misure. Non pochi, importanti parlamentari lo hanno lasciato, “tradito” sostiene lui con poca classe.

Giorgia Meloni teme giustamente che Berlusconi e Salvini si siano già messi d’accordo  per tradire l’impegno che chi prende più voti andrà a Palazzo Chigi.

Nel bene, la coerenza politica della leader di Fratelli d’Italia, all’opposizione, e programmatica, atlantista più sovranista che europeista, è fuori dubbio.

Lei, la sua figura è il programma, facile da capire, facile da votare anche se il fantasma del fascismo eterno non può essere esorcizzato.

Meloni si giova anche del ruolo di reale contendente opportunisticamente attribuitole dal segretario del Partito democratico Enrico Letta che spera in questo modo in un lungo e alto sussulto antifascista che riempia il suo “campo”, largo e aperto, ma tuttora non sufficientemente frequentato.

Neppure nel centro-sinistra i programmi stanno al centro della proposta per attrarre e convincere l’elettorato.

Calenda tenta di egemonizzare il centro intorno alla sua persona che agita in maniera frenetica. Mette dodici punti nero su bianco, ma sostanzialmente sono una revisione di quanto stava facendo e progettando il presidente del Consiglio Mario Draghi.

Dulcis neanche troppo in fundo, Calenda afferma che Letta non può essere il candidato per Palazzo Chigi. Verrà stanato e candidato l’irreprensibile Mario Draghi.

D’altronde chi meglio di lui, se non è stanco, come in maniera poco elegante ha sostenuto Berlusconi per giustificarne la mancata fiducia, potrà aggiornare e attuare la sua agenda?

Meloni verso Letta; non-draghiani verso draghianissimi: come è bello, anche no, il nuovo bipolarismo italiano (alle vongole avrebbe certamente aggiunto Ennio Flaiano).

Comunque, sia chiaro che se lo meritano molti italiani, soprattutto quelli del #iononvoto.

[mariacallous]

Planning is underway for the G-7 summit that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will host from June 13 to 15. As the 50th summit of the G-7, the club of the world’s leading democracies, there will be an impulse to celebrate.

Understandably so. The G-7—which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and, since 1981, the EU—today represents 54 percent of world GDP and over 55 percent of global defense spending. For decades, G-7 members have gained additional weight on the world stage by coordinating their national economic power in pursuit of shared foreign-policy priorities, such as protecting democratic societies and open markets.

But the importance of the coming summit exceeds its status as a landmark anniversary. The G-7’s future—and the future of global democratic cohesion in general—is now at stake.

Recent disparaging remarks about NATO by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have led many to question the credibility of America’s commitment to its allies. Part of Trump’s frustration with NATO comes from other NATO members’ historically low defense spending compared to the United States. Why should Americans spend more on Europe’s defense than Europeans are willing to?

However, the G-7 might prove even more vulnerable to the vagaries of a second Trump term. For Trump, coordinating U.S. foreign policy with others is a pointless constraint on U.S. freedom of action—unless, that is, it provides a tangible net economic return to America.

Herein lies the problem. The United States currently runs a trade deficit in goods with all of its G-7 partners except the United Kingdom. In 2023, these deficits amounted to $337 billion, more than the U.S. deficit with China ($279 billion). Trade deficits in goods are a foreign-policy red flag to Trump. That is why he treated Angela Merkel’s Germany as a greater rival than Vladimir Putin’s Russia and torpedoed the 2018 summit communiqué after G-7 leaders tried to push back against U.S. protectionism.

G-7 leaders could cross their fingers and hope there is a second term for incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden. But this is currently, at best, a 50-50 proposition. Instead, they should use the next three months to put in place a policy agenda that could withstand the buffeting of a second Trump presidency while also serving as a platform for a second Biden term.

The G-7’s achievements in Biden’s first term have been impressive. Since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the G-7 has implemented an unprecedented package of sanctions against Russia, ranging from freezing the roughly $300 billion of its central bank’s reserves held in their currencies to banning the provision of insurance to tankers carrying Russian oil if it’s sold above a cap of $60 per barrel. It can do this because over 93 percent of global reserves are held in G-7 currencies, and over 90 percent of the world’s oceangoing tonnage is covered by protection and indemnity insurance issued by companies based in the G-7.

Reflecting their common concerns over China’s rise and Beijing’s close alignment with Moscow, the G-7 has also engaged consistently over the past three years with close allies South Korea and Australia, in an effort to start “friendshoring” supply chains for the semiconductors and renewable energy inputs that will be central to their future economic growth.

All this important work could come to an end if a new Trump administration returned to punishing its closest allies for being free riders. But fixing G-7 members’ trade imbalances with the United States is impossible in the near term. That’s why the upcoming G-7 summit must prioritize preparing for the possible restoration of a hostile Trump presidency.

First, G-7 members need to send a clear signal to Moscow that their support for protecting the sovereignty of Ukraine has no time limit. The murderous conflict there is now shadowed by an intense contest to show which side can outlast the other politically and economically. With new U.S. support currently blocked in Congress, European countries plus the EU have already taken an important step to demonstrate their resolve, by committing a further 77 euros billion in future multiyear financial and military assistance to Kyiv, on top of the approximately 75 billion euros they have already allocated since the start of the war.

The summit should also decide how all G-7 members will start drawing on the profits earned from the frozen Russian reserves. The obstacle to date is that the bulk of these reserves are held by EU banks, and some governments and the European Central Bank are concerned that even the modest step of disbursing the earned interest (4.4 billion euros last year) lacks a firm legal foundation and could also undermine the euro’s credibility as a global reserve currency. Overcoming these reservations would underscore the G-7’s resolve; and a Trump presidency might think twice before reneging on an arrangement that would repay some of the U.S. costs of supporting Ukraine.

Second, G-7 members should invite South Korea and Australia formally into the group. If there is a second Biden term, their membership will strengthen the G-7’s collective resilience in high technology and renewable energy. If there is a second Trump presidency, these two democratic allies will be less isolated in the face of his mercantilist threats.

Third, G-7 members should allocate a first tranche of funding for the plan that the Biden administration, EU leaders, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and India announced last year to build a rail, energy, and data corridor from India through the Gulf and Israel to Europe. This belated but important project to compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative will connect India’s and the Gulf states’ youthful, burgeoning economies with Europe’s wealthy but aging markets.

The war in Gaza has called the plan into question, but its benefits to Israel create an important additional incentive for a post-Netanyahu government to build a durable peace with the Palestinians. At the same time, it would support the Trump presidency’s main foreign-policy achievement: the 2020 Abraham Accords that normalized Israel’s relations with several Arab states.

The G-7 is an invaluable geo-economic coordinating body for what is shaping up to be a protracted new Cold War with China and Russia. Whether to cement the gains of the Biden presidency or lessen the global risks of a Trump presidency, the G-7’s 50th anniversary summit must live up to its billing.