At a first round of talks in June, the leaders of continental Europe’s three biggest economies called for “a new impulse” for the EU.
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Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi invited German Chancellor and French President to Ventotene, a small island near Naples, where three politician discussed their common strategy ahead of a summit of all 28 EU’s leaders in September.
Transferred to the island in 1941, it was during his detention here that he secretly drew up with fellow prisoner Ernesto Rossi the “Ventotene Manifesto”, one of the founding texts of European federalism.
At the end of a mini-summit Monday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, Renzi said improved security and intelligence sharing is an “absolute priority” for a Europe confronting Islamic extremist violence.
A new crisis now looms, and the three leaders hope to lay the groundwork for a summit aimed at salvaging the European project in the wake of Britain’s shock vote to leave.
In another symbolic move, the leaders will hold a working dinner and press conference on Italy’s Garibaldi aircraft carrier, the flagship of the EU’s “Sophia” mission against people trafficking in the Mediterranean.
For Merkel, the visit to Ventotene marked the start of a string of meetings with other EU leaders to discuss the post-Brexit EU, with visits to Estonia, the Czech Republic and Poland in the coming days and meetings with the leaders of Slovakia and Hungary in Warsaw.
“She wants to support a discussion that is as broad as possible, with as many actors involved as possible”, her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said last week. France, for its part, wants greater EU integration and Hollande is a strong proponent of joining European defense efforts as Italy wants. The Italian PM is keen to bolster his country’s role in the European Union and also seeks help to cope with its record debt and the migrant crisis.
They envisaged attempting to bolster security cooperation, economic growth and programmes for young Europeans.
But more than anything else, the meeting, held three weeks before an informal European Union summit in Bratislava of 27 states – minus Britain – will focus on how to reverse the rise of euroscepticism and strengthen the hard-hit bloc.
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Renzi is also struggling with political uncertainty – he has staked his premiership on a constitutional reform, which would be voted on in a referendum in October or November.
