On 20 February, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, travelled to Stuttgart to attend the 38th Congress of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), together with German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz and former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
During the proceedings, the party’s new Federal Executive Committee was elected, and Chancellor Merz presented his candidacy for re-election as President of the political movement. In addition to appointing the new leadership, delegates outlined the main policy priorities that will guide the CDU’s political action in the coming years.
On the margins of the Congress, Tajani held a bilateral meeting with German Federal Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
The presence of the head of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the strong ties between Italy and Germany, as demonstrated by the success of the Intergovernmental Summit held in Rome last January, ahead of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries on 4 April.
The strategic document on critical minerals recently presented by Tajani and Wadephul to the European Commission placed the issue of critical raw materials at the centre of cooperation between the two countries, with a view to mitigating strategic dependencies and building secure supply chains for European businesses.
