Rome-Berlin push for a more autonomous, competitive Europe
At the Rome intergovernmental summit, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz signed a German-Italian Action Plan to bolster EU strategic autonomy and industrial competitiveness—especially in the automotive sector—while expanding cooperation on defence, energy, and migration; they issued seven bilateral understandings and two key agreements, reaffirmed NATO unity and support for Ukraine, tied EU external policy to Africa via Meloni's Mattei Plan, and urged a green transition that preserves technological neutrality rather than mandating an electric-only propulsion path.