// LEADERS' VIEWS
GIORGIA MELONI, PRIME MINISTER, ITALY
Securing borders, shaping futures W e have worked with courage, daring to begin a new chapter in Italy and in Europe too,
Government over these years is the right one, and of the support of an increasing number of European nations. Italy has played a decisive role in changing Europe’s approach to managing migration flows, and is continuing to do so. Europe now also sees defending external borders, fighting mass irregular migration, strengthening returns policies and implementing equal partnerships with countries of origin and of transit as a priority, and this is largely thanks to Italy’s determination and tenacity. The facts show that we were right and that we are on the right track. Statement on the European Union’s list of safe countries of origin, 16 April 2025 According to the World Bank, 80% of the most advanced nations’ wealth is represented by knowledge. In this context, STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] subjects are taking on an increasingly crucial role, offering great opportunities and prospects. The Government … has already taken the first steps in this direction. I am referring … to the technical-vocational education and training reform to create a stable and structural link between technical and vocational education pathways, higher technical institutes (‘ITS’) and production chains; the establishment of the ‘Made in Italy’ high school, which encompasses both humanities and STEM subjects; the incentives for companies to hire researchers and research contract holders; the funding allocated for career guidance and the ‘scientific degree plan’ … Overcoming the skills challenge is essential to building an increasingly competitive nation that is at the forefront of the great transformations of our time. We can only achieve this goal if we are able to work together as a team, involving families, schools, universities, companies, professional associations, cultural institutions and the media in this mission. Believing in Italy’s future also means working to shape the professions and the professionals of tomorrow, thus helping to reawaken that courage and daring that are innate in our people and that have allowed our nation to become what it is today. Statement to mark National STEM Week, 4 February 2025
and unstoppable migration flows within Europe’s borders but rather defending the EU’s external borders, the fact that we are now talking about strengthening return policies … The management of migration flows is an issue for which the majority of citizens have provided very clear indications: citizens are asking us to stop illegal immigration, because illegal immigration creates insecurity, a lack of integration and an inability to uphold the rule of law, and also because mass illegal immigration is the number one enemy of legal migration … We have driven out organised crime, which had infiltrated the rules for legal migration, and I think that this is another great achievement that we should all be proud of together … Speech at the Conference of Italy’s prefects and police commissioners, 17 February 2025 I welcome the proposed EU list of safe countries of origin presented by the European Commission, which also includes, among others, Bangladesh, Egypt and Tunisia … This is further confirmation that the direction charted by the Italian
designing a model to counter irregular immigration and manage migration flows based on four focus areas: relentlessly fighting human traffickers; building a new cooperation and development model with migrants’ countries of origin and of transit; supporting pathways for agreed legal migration that is therefore more easily integrated; innovative solutions to redesign how migration flows are managed. These four focus areas have enabled us to achieve … a drastic reduction in the number of migrants arriving on small boats along the central Mediterranean route, and with it a fall in the number of deaths at sea, especially thanks to the drop in departures from Tunisia and Libya; and also, the overall reduction in irregular entries into the European Union along other routes … We have also addressed the causes of migration through the Mattei Plan ... The next challenge regarding the Mattei Plan is to ‘Europeanise’ and ‘internationalise’ it, building new synergies between what we are doing at the national level and the instruments that exist at other levels: I am referring to the European Union’s Global Gateway and the G7’s ‘PGII’ [Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment] … This was part of Italy’s work last year as G7 Presidency … These are actions carried out on the ground, actions agreed with our partners, actions based on verifiable milestones: it is not a wish list, but rather a concrete strategy that has already got underway in nine nations and is now being expanded to another five nations in Africa. … I would like to briefly highlight the decisive role Italy has played in Brussels to change Europe’s approach to immigration. The fact that, today, implementing equal partnerships with countries of origin and of transit is a priority, the fact that the priority is no longer distributing unmanageable
11 globalgovernanceproject.org
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