Tajani: 'No troops in Ukraine but help with mine clearance. Meloni and I will keep Paris relations".

Is the tension between France and Italy after the attack by vice-premier and Leghist leader Matteo Salvini on President Emmanuel Macron on troops in Ukraine ("Macron sticks to the tram, put on his helmet and go there himself")? "Foreign policy is made by the president of the Council and the foreign minister. If one has to make a case, one wins with the strength of ideas, not with the violence of words'. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti's proposal to use bank profits from the fall in the spread for household aid? "Bank hunting means hunting down the Italian industrial and entrepreneurial system. No blitz or strange operations." Salvini continues to speak generically about peace, glossing over guarantees for Kiev? "In these hours with my G7 colleagues we have given a strong political signal of support to the Ukrainian foreign minister to achieve a just and lasting peace, based on Ukrainian sovereign decisions. We are working for solid security guarantees, which should foster peace and stability in Europe'.

Antonio Tajani shows up at the Rimini Meeting, as has become tradition, with the firm intention of reiterating all of Forza Italia's stakes vis-à-vis its leghist ally. And the long-distance duel between the two deputy prime ministers is destined to last, as Salvini is expected in Rimini on Tuesday. All this while Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whom Palazzo Chigi sources describe as irritated by Salvini's new anti-French remarks a few days before the Washington summit on Ukraine and in general by the tone of the political debate within the majority, remains a few more days in her buen retiro in Puglia before resuming her activities by closing the parade of politicians at the Meeting on Wednesday evening.

Let us start with foreign policy, for which Tajani is responsible. Salvini's distingues do not come naturally, in line with Meloni's own strategy, to espouse Macron's line. The no to Italian troops in Ukraine remains, but so does the proposal to extend NATO Article 5 to Ukraine and thus the readiness to intervene with allies in the event of an attack. "Progress is also being made on the Italian proposal to have a NATO Article 5 model guarantee, with the American presence," says Tajani. "We are not in favour of sending troops but we could make an important contribution given the great experience we have in mine clearance both at sea and on land. Then we will see how things go. Progress has also been made from the point of view of coordination on this type of hypothesis'. As for the incident with Macron, who after Salvini's attack summoned the Italian ambassador to Paris, Tajani tries to throw water on the fire: "There is no diplomatic crisis with France, with my counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot I spoke at length yesterday, we have prepared the G7 Foreign Affairs. I think it is right to point out that foreign policy relations are maintained by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister, and talks between the Prime Minister and the French President, as well as mine with the French Foreign Minister, are frequent'.

On the economic front, just as in recent months when faced with the hypothesis of a tax on the banks' extra profits, Tajani's wall is just as high. "Banks are businesses, I don't think it is necessary to 'pinch' the banks but it is necessary to talk to them, because a country like ours cannot do without a strong banking system. They have to pay taxes like everyone else, but I am against the principle of extra profits'. And again: 'Beware: hunting the bank means hunting the Italian industrial and entrepreneurial system'. The same is true 'for the pension funds' of professionals that 'as long as Forza Italia is in government they will never enter the Inps'. A project that would not be in the plans at the moment, while the sterilisation of the retirement age, which without any intervention would increase by three months in 2027, is maturing on the social security front. 'I have spoken about it with Giorgetti, there is his willingness to include the measure in the Budget law,' says the Lega Nord undersecretary for labour Claudio Durigon, who was also at the Cl.