Meloni says we aren't PD on Schlein 'shame' in Egypt

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 17 - Premier Giorgia Meloni said in Cairo Sunday "we aren't the PD" in dismissing opposition Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein's claim that it was a "shame" that Italy should be part of an allegedly failed EU policy of trading development aid for stopping migrants after negotiating with alleged authoritarian leaders like Egyptian President Abdel fattah el-Sisi or Tunisia's Kais Saied.
    "I read the Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein saying that it is a shame that half of Europe is coming to Egypt to try to stop irregular immigration," said Meloni after talking to Sisi at an EU-Egypt summit that sealed a 7.4 billion euro deal.
    "I understand that for them it is shameful, but if I had wanted to put up the PD programme I would have run with the PD, instead I ran against the PD precisely because I do not agree with them".She went on: "I think it is instead a very important signal that Europe has understood that if it wants to seriously tackle the migration issue it must work on the external dimension, that Africa plays in the current geopolitical context an absolutely strategic role of which we have not been adequately aware in the past, that there are other actors that are moving and that are very effective, and that it is therefore important that we manage to maintain our presence, our dialogue, our ability to make an impact, otherwise we will only lose ground, which I repeat, in the current geopolitical context in which we find ourselves, does not seem to me to be a very intelligent choice". (ANSA).