Before the interview, Antonio Tajani shows us the grand hall of the Farnesina, which just two days ago became a nave for the Holy Week Mass. Today, however, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has become the driving force behind talks between the United States and Iran, hosted in Rome. \u201cWe are a capital of peace,\u201d he says. \u201cA country capable of dialogue with everyone \u2013 staying true to our principles but open to mediation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Minister Tajani, how did this round of talks go? Do you believe in a potential agreement between the two sides?<\/strong> Which one?<\/strong> Will there be more meetings in Rome?<\/strong> Another tense scenario is Ukraine. Yesterday, Putin announced a two-day Easter truce. How do you interpret this move?<\/strong> But the Sumy massacre happened only days ago. Can Putin be trusted?<\/strong> Everything seems to revolve around Trump\u2019s role. Meloni has just returned from the White House. What\u2019s your assessment?<\/strong> Do you really believe Trump will meet with von der Leyen?<\/strong> Could it be that Trump is using Italy as a wedge to split European unity?<\/strong> But there\u2019s been no progress on tariffs.<\/strong> You\u2019re pushing for a political pact between Meloni and Merz, between EPP and ECR. Is the goal to strengthen the US\u2013EU negotiations and also sideline the Euroscepticism of the Patriots?<\/strong> Do you also see this joint effort as a way to counter French activism, which never seems to align with Meloni\u2019s approach?<\/strong> Despite Salvini, who continues to attack von der Leyen and urges Meloni to deal with Trump independently of Europe. Is this a problem? Returning to the US visit: Did Trump ask Italy to adopt Starlink? Do you prefer it over the European satellite project?<\/strong> And what about China? Have the US asked us to leave the Global Strategic Partnership? Is there room for manoeuvre?<\/strong> Trump also said: scrap the web tax. Is that possible?<\/strong> Forza Italia held back on applying golden power to Unicredit\u2019s bid for Bpm. As a party that supports free markets, do you not find the government\u2019s interventionism in the banking sector excessive? Let\u2019s talk about Rai. Italy is under EU scrutiny. While we wait for the Freedom Act, Viale Mazzini is paralysed by internal vetoes and opposition protests. What\u2019s your plan to resolve the deadlock?<\/strong> Where will you celebrate 25 April, the anti-fascist Liberation Day?<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before the interview, Antonio Tajani shows us the grand hall of the Farnesina, which just two days ago became a nave for the Holy Week Mass. Today, however, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has become the driving force behind talks between the United States and Iran, hosted in Rome. \u201cWe are a capital of peace,\u201d […]","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":135347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-135371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviste","tag-ministro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135371"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135372,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135371\/revisions\/135372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cWe encourage an agreement on Iran\u2019s nuclear programme. We believe it is achievable. Tehran\u2019s Foreign Minister confirmed to me the decision not to build a nuclear weapon. \u2018We will continue with the civil programme\u2019, that is their position \u2013 not for military purposes. But there\u2019s one point I think is crucial\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIran has said it is willing to allow the necessary inspections at nuclear sites to resume. Strengthening the role of the IAEA (the UN\u2019s nuclear watchdog) in monitoring those sites would help ensure that no nuclear weapon is being developed. There are also ongoing discussions around a moratorium on uranium enrichment. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, whom I also met yesterday, is a person of great balance and experience. We support the continuation of IAEA monitoring. Finding an agreement would be essential. In this, the deep involvement of the Trump administration is a decisive and reassuring factor\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe are ready to host further meetings in the future, if they prove helpful to the negotiations\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAny sign pointing towards peace is important, as I have always said while encouraging all sides to negotiate. It\u2019s unclear how Russia will respect such a brief truce, while Putin must ultimately decide to end this war \u2013 a war he started. He must respond positively to President Trump\u2019s requests and make a real ceasefire possible. Easter is only one day \u2013 peace must be just and enduring\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe have always supported American efforts toward peace. Zelensky is willing to reach an agreement \u2013 the problem remains Putin, who does not respond to US initiatives\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cPolitically, a successful mission. A visit confirming Italy\u2019s good relationship with both the United States and Europe. The proposed idea of a US\u2013EU meeting is proof of that. If Trump comes to meet European leaders in Rome, our country becomes central to global peace \u2013 just as it is today for the Iran talks \u2013 and to transatlantic dialogue\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt\u2019s possible. It happened years ago, that he met the heads of the European institutions in Brussels: I was there with Juncker and Tusk\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cItaly is not acting against other EU countries. Meloni is in constant contact with Ursula and keeps her informed about every move. And Trump said so himself during the bilateral meeting: an agreement with the EU will be reached \u2013 he expressed his willingness\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe first step was political. Moreover, I urge people not to underestimate another factor: soon Germany will have a new Chancellor \u2013 Merz. He will become one of Europe\u2019s key political figures. For us in the EPP, this is another development that strengthens our position\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe relationship between Italy and Germany has always been strong. Think of the DC\u2013CDU connection, of De Gasperi. EPP and ECR are different forces but already work together. They are part of the European constitutional arc, if we may call it that. Meloni recently met with Weber. I have always said it is essential to broaden the cooperation to include Conservatives and to work together on economic policy matters \u2013 to make real progress on issues like the Green Deal and migration\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou know, our relationship with Berlin is strong also because of commercial ties and economic interdependence. We have shared interests\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cWe have two guiding stars in foreign policy: Europe and the United States. Of course, we cannot disregard Europe \u2013 Berlusconi himself always supported this\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAs far as I know, it wasn\u2019t discussed. In any case, I have a \u2018secular\u2019 view on Starlink. In Europe, I worked to revive the Galileo project, which is in part my own brainchild. We need pragmatism: we\u2019ll choose whatever best guarantees our security\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve exited the Belt and Road Initiative because we\u2019re not part of that strategic vision. But we remain within the Global Strategic Partnership with Beijing: we continue to engage in dialogue and maintain positive commercial relations with China. Strategically, however, we support IMEC \u2013 the India\u2013Middle East\u2013Europe Corridor \u2013 what we call the \u2018Cotton Route\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFor now, no\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cWe had three concerns. First, a matter of principle: we support the free market. Second, legal concerns about the basis of the decision. Third, practical implications: we\u2019re worried about Italian businesses in Russia. There are 200 companies operating there in compliance with sanctions \u2013 the sudden withdrawal of such an important bank from Russia would create practical issues for them, such as salary payments, transactions, and pensions. By securing a nine-month extension, we also protected those businesses. That\u2019s why I approved it\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cExcuse me \u2013 the vetoes are coming from the Left. If there\u2019s no president, it\u2019s their fault. We\u2019ve always voted for Rai presidents from the other side too. There\u2019s no reason to block Simona Agnes\u2019s appointment \u2013 she\u2019s a moderate, independent candidate, daughter of one of Rai\u2019s founding figures. If the opposition continues like this, we\u2019ll move forward: we\u2019ll launch the reform and vote on the appointments. Agnes remains our candidate. If she\u2019s elected, everything will move forward\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAs always, at the Fosse Ardeatine. To pay tribute to the innocent victims, to Don Morosini and to Cordero di Montezemolo, one of the leaders of the Resistance\u201d.<\/p>\n