Giorgia Meloni presents a vision of Europe as not only an economic power, but also a geopolitical one. The question, however, is whether this is genuinely a new vision or simply a restatement of the existing one—one that recent events suggest is struggling to deliver meaningful results.
Rather than relying on bold rhetoric, any credible vision should begin by confronting today’s realities. It should identify Europe’s current strategic, political and economic challenges, explain how they will be addressed, and outline a practical course of action. That is particularly important in neighbouring regions where decades of Western political intervention have contributed to, or exacerbated, long-running conflicts, while sustained, non-transactional efforts to help resolve them (rather then extract resources from them) have often been limited. The strategic consequences of this are increasingly apparent.
In my view, any successful political alliance must be built upon a consistent set of shared values and common interests. At present, I struggle to see that consistency across the European Union.
The same principle applies to partnerships beyond Europe. Cross-regional alliances should be grounded in shared principles, including respect for fundamental human rights and international law at the most fundemental level. Without those foundations, such partnerships become inherently unsustainable and risk producing long-term political and economic liabilities rather than strategic advantages.
As I understand Meloni’s proposal, it envisages a Europe united on economic cooperation, collective defence and shared challenges such as migration, while allowing greater national flexibility over foreign policy, geopolitical strategy and economic priorities.
The difficulty is that this model assumes a degree of shared commitment that does not always exist. Some governments selectively apply or reinterpret common values when politically convenient. Others increasingly favour transactional relationships over principle, particularly where domestic political ideology takes precedence over pragmatic cooperation. At the same time, some member states are happy to benefit from economic integration while taking a narrower view of collective responsibilities, particularly in defence and foreign policy.
Of course I may be wrong, and if there are indeed detailed proposals that address these concerns, I’d be interested in seeing them. But until those proposals are articulated and supported by collective action, I remain sceptical because we would already be seeing more evidence of it.