Mercosur postponed and Russian assets avoided, Meloni 'bridge-builder' collects double victory in Brussels

BRUSSELS - In Brussels Giorgia Meloni cashes in on a double victory. First she wrested from Ursula von der Leyen, together with France, the one-month postponement of the signing of the EU-Mercosur agreement. Then, at the European Council that lasted late into the night to find an agreement on the financial instruments to support Ukraine, it contributes to unravelling the solution of the use of Russian assets frozen until the last push by Germany and sees the 'plan B' triumphing that has been hotly advocated by Italy for days: a loan of 90 billion guaranteed from the margins of the EU budget.

A double outcome that was by no means a foregone conclusion. For Mercosur, the decisive factor was convincing the Brazilian president Lula, who called the premier yesterday, to backtrack from Wednesday evening's ultimatum before the brakes applied by the Europeans ("It's now or never", Lula had intimated). Now the ball is back in the hands of the EU Commission, to which Italy asks to include in the agreement the principle of "reciprocity" to protect the agricultural sector.

For the second result, the one on the loan, the decisive factor was instead the persistence of many doubts, not only among Italians, on the soundness of the legal basis for the use of the frozen Russian assets as collateral for a repair loan. Meloni had already made it clear in the House the day before yesterday that it was necessary to avert all risks, including reputational ones, and the impact on public accounts. And the Sherpas had already begun to push for the alternative, considered by Rome to be more 'sustainable' and less exposed to the danger of retaliation by Vladimir Putin's Russia. Hence the final agreement on the all-European loan: no finger in the eye to Moscow, but nevertheless a demonstration of European closeness to Zelensky and the Ukrainian people.

"I am happy that common sense has prevailed and that we have managed to secure the resources that are needed," the premier explained as she left the summit at 3 a.m., "but to do so with a solution that has a solid legal and financial basis. Meloni, who stood up to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, claimed to have worked together to build a viable alternative to achieve two goals: to avoid possible appeals by Moscow and to still financially support Kiev at a time of difficulty.

But there is another revolt, all political. By doing away with the recourse to the Russian assets invisible to Belgium (the Euroclear financial company holds most of the 210 billion frozen assets), the premier has also done without irritating the leghist annex, Matteo Salvini, the most pro-Russian of the coalition. And it has somewhat reassured Donald Trump, whose most loyal ally it is: Italy is there and will ensure cohesion between the two sides of the Atlantic by continuing to mediate between Europe and the US. In the field in Brussels she has earned the title of 'arbiter', which Le Monde acknowledged to her with regard to Mercosur. And which also applies to financial support for Ukraine. She is the bridge-builder. But in order to please the farmers, she leaves bitterness and bewilderment among domestic and European industries which, in times of US tariffs, continue to anxiously await the trade agreement with the South American bloc.