Russia’s weaponisation of illegal immigration and its relentless efforts to manipulate and influence public opinion with its focus on undermining democratic norms within the European Union pose a continuing and subversive threat to overall EU security, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned at the weekend. Bloc members need to show a more multifaceted and coherent response to Moscow — one that goes beyond the defence of borders.
Meloni was speaking to the press after Finland had convened a weekend meeting with the leaders of Italy, Sweden and Greece plus the EU foreign affairs chief to discuss security in the Nordic region and the Mediterranean, as well as migration challenges in southern Europe.
“We have to understand the threat is much wider than we imagine“, Meloni told the press conference when asked about Russia.
The EU had to recognise that the threat to its security – whether from Russia or elsewhere – was not going to go away with the end of the Ukraine conflict, Meloni stressed.
“It’s about our democracy, it’s about influencing our public opinion, it’s about what happens in Africa, it’s about raw materials, it’s about the instrumentalisation of migration. We need to know it’s a very broad idea of security.”
The EU must do more to protect its borders. “Tackling the issue of illegal immigration solely as a solidarity-based debate was a mistake” , Meloni said. “The result is that we have been unable to protect our borders … We want to defend our external borders and we will not allow Russia or criminal organisations to undermine our security.” While NATO remained “the cornerstone” of EU security” but there was more the bloc could do in facing the wider challenges, the Italian Prime Minister insisted.
“Security also means critical infrastructure, it means artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, raw materials, supply chains. It means a new and more effective foreign and cooperation policy, it means migration.”
Finland and Estonia have accused Moscow of enabling illegal migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to gain entry into EU member states without proper checks, thereby undermining the EU’s security, charges Russia has denied.
According to Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, securing Finland’s 1,340-km border with Russia is “an existential” question not just for Finland but for other EU members and NATO allies.
