Cop27, what Meloni said

Sharm el Sheikh – Rhetoric abounds, but from Wednesday, when the negotiations begin, we will understand the meaning of this Cop27, the UN climate conference underway in Egypt. The Egyptian Cop27 went live this morning, in an armored Sharm el Sheikh and characterized by the roar of helicopters and planes. Over one hundred heads of state who will parade in the first two days.

UN Secretary Antonio Guterres spoke in the morning. “The fight against climate change is being played out before our eyes in this crucial decade – he has declared -. We’re on a highway to hell with our foot on the gas“. Al Gore also took the floor, and in a passionate speech he lashed out against the “culture of death“Linked to fossil sources, e the passionate Mia Amor Mottley, president of Barbados and symbolic voice of Cop26. Mottley used powerful words, as usual. “But I find no satisfaction in playing the part of the one who repeats the same things over and over“, he said. As if to say: I’m not looking for glory. And he stressed that the countries of the Global South (more or less: the poor ones) the money is lent at 14%. “For the rich the rate reaches a maximum of 4%”, He pressed.

Disrupted program in the afternoon. The French President Emanuele Macron presented himself on the stage, who held court for twenty minutes. “The war in Russia will not stop our climate commitment“, he affirmed, before acknowledging that this is an African COP. And in fact France has a lot of interests in Africa. Surprise of the day, the arrival of the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, protagonist of an insipid speech. Sunak had given up, but changed his mind when he learned that Boris Jonhson, in Downing Street until a couple of months ago, would be there. At the end of the day it was the turn of the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Meloni at COP27 in Egypt in silence on the Regeni case

While the Egyptian authorities continue to refuse to collaborate to punish those responsible for Regeni’s murder, the prime minister met al-Sisi without addressing the issue.

Meloni meets al-Sisi

Intense was the day of the leader of the Brothers of Italy, who arrived in Egypt on Sunday evening and engaged, since Monday morning, in a dense agenda of bilateral negotiations and round tables strictly behind closed doors. The president saw General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in a meeting intended to cause discussion. “The meeting gave President Meloni an opportunity to raise the issue of respect for human rights and to underline the Italy’s strong focus on the cases of Giulio Regeni and Patrick Zaki”, Reads the note from Palazzo Chigi. The spokesman for the Egyptian presidency remains on the same tone: “The meeting touched on the question of the Italian student Regeni and cooperation to reach the truth and obtain justice“. In face to face there would also be talk of migrants and energy. Not surprisingly, in the corridors there were also men from Enel, the Italian giant in the sector, who will also be at the G20 in Bali in the next few days.

In the afternoon, the moment of truth. Nothing crazy: if the leader of the Brothers of Italy was expected by many at home and abroad, in the huge, half-empty room where the politicians spoke, the effect was very different. The cameras don’t make it. Meloni’s speech in plenary retraced the steps of previous governments and confirmed the commitments, without flaws but also without major tears. In the audience, the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, who preferred not to expose himself to reporters and who will return to Egypt next week.