Security was tight on the island
of Ventotene south of Rome ahead of Monday's three-way summit
between Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.
The small island off the coast of Lazio housed a Fascist
prison during World War II, where two of the founding fathers of
the European Union, Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi, were
held by the Mussolini dictatorship. The so-called Ventotene
Manifesto of 1941 eventually laid the basis for the Union.
The three leaders are slated to pay tribute to Spinelli at
his tomb before tackling the issues of the day.
Key items on the agenda at their summit to be held this
afternoon on Italy's Gariabldi aircraft carrier are investments,
economic growth, youth employment, and a possible joint European
defence.
"We need to get investments started again," Renzi has said.
"Austerity has only wrought damage in Europe".
The Italian premier will be pushing for more EU budget
flexibility and his proposed Migration Compact for investments
in migrant countries of origin.
"The migrant problem is European, not Italian," Renzi has
said.
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