We know that Markus Söder took his first big vacation trip to Veneto, back then with his parents. There are photos of it, Söder once showed one on Instagram. On Friday, Söder (CSU) traveled to Italy again. It is his third trip to Rome as Bavarian Prime Minister. In the capital he met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at lunchtime.
Not much more than photos have survived. There was no joint press conference after the one-on-one conversation in which Söder wanted to get a “personal impression” of Meloni’s worldview and her stance on the AfD. The Italian Prime Minister is controversial; her Fratelli d’Italia party has roots in post-fascism. After the meeting, Söder emphasized the similarities, for example in migration policy. It was an “exciting” and “constructive” conversation. Meloni expressed her “clear rejection” of the AfD, said Söder. At the end of the conversation, “the private telephone numbers” were exchanged.
The fact that Söder sought closeness to the Italian Prime Minister came as a surprise. In the run-up to the trip, he repeatedly had to ask himself whether he had changed his mind about Meloni. The background: Söder had criticized his party deputy Manfred Weber several times after he had advocated open dealings with Meloni. Unlike Weber, who as head of the European People’s Party (EPP) has at least not aggressively ruled out the inclusion of the Fratelli d’Italia in the EPP, Söder categorically rejects this. Meloni also showed him “zero interest” in joining the EPP. “The discussion is definitely not relevant and is over,” said Söder in Rome.
The focus of his conversation with Meloni should be energy issues and the Brenner dispute with Austria. Although the construction of a gas and hydrogen pipeline from the south across the Alps is already on the federal government’s plan – Söder is suspicious about Berlin and would like more speed. There is “great agreement” with the Italian head of government on this. Likewise in the demand to stop the phase-out of combustion engines in the EU.
In the dispute with Austria, Söder and Meloni are united by anger over the block handling of trucks in Tyrol, which is putting a lot of strain on traffic on the Brenner route. Italy is suing the European Court of Justice against this, which Bavaria supports. Söder now wanted to know from Meloni whether she could imagine a slot system instead of block processing – at least in the event that the Italian lawsuit fails. The idea behind it: freight forwarders should book specific time slots for their trips on a digital booking platform. Meloni had promised him to check the slot system, said Söder on Friday. However, he made it clear that Italy continues to rely on a successful lawsuit. If the burner continues to be blocked in the future, “then that will be a big problem for us,” said Söder.
Before the Prime Minister travels back to Bavaria, there is a private audience with Pope Francis and a visit to the grave of Benedict XVI on Saturday. on the program. With Francis, he wanted to “promote that the church continues to be active in questions of values,” said Söder, citing the debate about abortion paragraph 218 as an example.