Rome – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is calling for unified European representation and a clear mandate for negotiations on the war in Ukraine. In a letter dated 5 November to António Costa, president of the European Council, she requests a discussion at the informal EU summit in Dublin. The European Council should decide in December who will negotiate for the Union and under what mandate.
Costa has agreed to discuss the matter in Dublin. He stresses the importance of European unity but has not committed to a single representative or negotiating team. Neither a joint lead negotiator nor the mandate requested by Meloni has been agreed so far.
Meloni calls for a clear EU mandate for Ukraine talks
The letter focuses on the many, partly overlapping formats for talks on Ukraine. Meloni criticises the fact that European states appear in different groupings without a common mandate from the entire EU always being clear. This includes the format known as E3, comprising France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
For Italy, the prime minister links the question of representation to political responsibility for any agreements. She does not want to accept commitments for her country negotiated by others without a jointly agreed mandate. At the same time, she says she is not seeking to put an Italian representative in charge of the talks.
In Meloni’s view, a coordinated European position should also make it easier to work with partners outside the EU, particularly the United Kingdom and Norway. Both countries play a role in discussions about Ukraine but are not members of the European Union. An EU mandate and coordination with these partners are therefore separate tasks.
For now, the initiative concerns the process by which Europe represents its interests in possible peace talks. The letter contains no decision on a peace agreement and does not announce any withdrawal of Italian support for Ukraine. The next steps depend on discussions among European heads of state and government. By agreeing to raise the matter in Dublin, Costa has opened the discussion; the decision sought by Rome in December remains a proposal for now.
