And to say that in November 2011, when he was appointed head of the European Central Bank, the Germans were skeptical of him, to say the least. Especially for his Italian passport. Almost ten years later, however, Mario Draghi is not only appreciated by almost the entire German parliamentary arc (an element that is not negligible if we consider that in September in Germany we vote), but above all he has forged a very strong bond with Angela Merkel.
The Draghi-Merkel feeling
A link deriving from the years at the ECB, but which has also been put into practice since Draghi became the prime minister of the Italian government. Between Mario and Angela the feeling is profound. Suffice it to say that, unable to attend the working lunch of the members of the European Council with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, Draghi delegated Merkel to speak. A deed of trust that says more than many words.
“The only thing we disagree on is football,” Merkel said at a press conference in Berlin a few days ago after meeting Draghi. Disagreement that, given the draw of the round of 16 of the European Championships, could emerge only in the event of a final between Italy and Germany, but which for now can be quietly dormant along the path leading to Wembley.
Recovery and migrants: common line
On the rest of the dossiers, unity of purpose is very strong. Starting with recovery, a topic that Draghi and Merkel have dealt with several times on a bilateral level in telephone calls and meetings on the sidelines of multilateral events such as the G7 in Cornwall. A common line has also emerged on the inconvenient issue of migrants, historically divisive for two countries with very different needs. Although Italy is a destination country and Germany is the protagonist more than anything else of secondary movements.
Draghi and Merkel agreed on the goodness of the Turkish model, that is the system through which the European Union provides money (a lot, to be exact 15 billion euros since 2002) to Erdogan’s Turkey to keep the Middle Eastern route of migrants under control . A system criticized by many but which it is difficult to do without and which the two leaders agreed to reiterate (with an additional 5.7 billion to be filmed in Ankara) and having to replicate in Africa too, with the allocation of funds for the countries of transit (Libya in primis) and of departure, in particular the turbulent ones of the Sahel (not surprisingly, Ministers Di Maio and Guerini recently went to Niger).