Premier Giorgia Meloni said Europe must move up a gear in terms of anticipating crises, rather than just reacting to them, as she took part in a panel discussion at the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Yerevan, Armenia, on Monday.

“Migration is an integral part of the polycrisis; no one can address it alone,” Meloni told a discussion entitled “Maintaining European Unity and Coherence in Times of Polycrisis’.

“So cooperation is essential.

“In recent years, we have made very important progress at the European Union level.

“We have demonstrated our ability to respond to emergencies at the EU level, with the pandemic crisis and with Ukraine.

“But I also think we now need to make a qualitative leap.

|”This means moving from an ability to react to an ability to anticipate”.

Leaders from 48 countries are participating in the summit, including top EU and NATO officials.

Canadian Prime Minister Carney, a special guest at the summit, said it would be wrong to give into a “a more closed and ruthless world”.

Meloni said that, while she was happy that Carney was attending, “I believe—and this is Italy’s position—that we should focus much more on our Mediterranean neighbours, for example.

“This is obviously crucial for us at a time when attention is focused on the broader Mediterranean region,” she added.