\u201cIt\u2019s right to talk about a two-speed Europe, although it isn\u2019t the best definition, because opposing views must and can coexist\u201d: the Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni thus announces that during the next meeting in Rome, between colleagues from the six founding countries of the EU, a \u201ccommon view of the future of the Union\u201d will begin to be outlined. His words set a potential course to harmonising the different positions of many member States on burning issues like immigration.<\/p>\n
Mr Minister, the latest news from Europe is that special Swedish flights will repatriate 80,000 migrants. What do you think about that?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cRepatriation must be part of a common European action, not a subject for sound bites\u201d.<\/p>\n And what are your thoughts on the Danish provision regarding seizures from migrants?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cIt is something which, in cultural terms, Europe should never see. It\u2019s like charging council tax on homeless people. And anyone who is aware of the dramatic circumstances of these migration routes will struggle to understand how it can be enforced. To me it looks like legislation implemented for show and mostly to gain domestic approval\u201d.<\/p>\n Are we risking the end of Schengen?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cI hope not, but hope is not enough, something has to change. We cannot continue with the Dublin rules, which make the countries where migrants first arrive responsible for giving them asylum or refusing them. A European right of asylum, a European repatriation initiative and a European border police force are required. Without this leap forward, we risk having to sacrifice the free movement of people.<\/p>\n Might the solution to the European crisis be a potential two-speed Europe?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cA few weeks ago, I wrote an article with the British foreign secretary: the definition of a two-speed Europe is not the best, but it is right to talk about different levels of integration. There are some, like Italy, who want a growing banking, fiscal and political union, and some, like the United Kingdom, who only want a more efficient common market. These two visions must and can coexist\u201d.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n How?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll start discussing it in Rome, at a meeting between the foreign ministers of the six founding countries, sixty years since the instituting treaties were signed\u201d.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Renzi and Merkel will be meeting today: what can we expect? Yesterday, our prime minister clearly told the FAZ that Germany is wrong to focus on the relationship with France\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cOne thing is certain: Italy and Germany are leading players on the European scene, they have differences on economic rules but they can work on a common vision for the future of the Union\u201d.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Italy, the week was marked by the visit of President Rohani. What do you expect from the relationship with Iran?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThe political significance is very clear: the first visit to the West was made to Italy, not by chance, but as a consequence of a relationship that began 60 years ago and also continued in recent times. In a context in which everyone will be competing for this market, this primacy is not enough, but Italy has a small initial advantage\u201d.<\/p>\n Which we pay for, however, by covering up one thousand-year-old statues?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThat is an incomprehensible act of foolishness\u201d.<\/p>\n Rabbi Di Segni found the visit intolerable, especially on Remembrance Day\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cItaly celebrated Remembrance Day with all the commitment it deserves. The visit by Rohani has nothing to do with that. Naturally, I understand the concern expressed by Israel, the security of which is crucial for us. But I don\u2019t share the Israeli government\u2019s opinion of the nuclear agreement, which I believe has avoided, not created, a threat. And the coming months will tell us if, as I hope, diplomacy will have produced positive results in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n In the negotiations on Syria, for example? They don\u2019t seem easy\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThe start of talks today, which I hope will take place, will only be preliminary. At most, they will be what diplomats call \u201cproximity talks\u201d, which translates into the UN High Commissioner De Mistura shuttling between two parties that will not meet. The negotiation path is narrow, and made even more arduous by the soaring tension between key countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia, but there is no other way to deal with the worst humanitarian crisis of recent years\u201d.<\/p>\n Equally arduous is the path to achieving a government of national unity in Libya: are you confident?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThere again, it has to be clearly understood, especially by the Libyan parties, that we have no alternative. A new proposal by the government will be submitted by next week. It is fundamentally important for the Libyan parties to believe in the negotiation: without this basis, it is hard even for the international community to contribute to stabilising Libya, because we have to respond to a request from the Libyan government\u201d.<\/p>\n What happens if, despite the efforts, the attempt fails?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWhat happens is that the Libyan parties will be giving up any hope of security and of recovering control over the territory for a potentially lengthy period of time. Instead of a stable Libya, we\u2019ll have a gigantic Somalia across the Strait of Sicily. Naturally then, if a country feels threatened, it has the right to defend itself and may decide to fight Daesh in ways that are approved by the international community\u201d.<\/p>\n There has been talk of military intervention in the past few days. Yesterday, Minister Pinotti said we cannot allow the stalemate to last until the end of spring, while however pointing out that there will be no acceleration or unilateral action. What does that mean exactly?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re working to create a Libyan government and to respond to its demands, particularly in terms of security. There is no plan B involving foreign intervention, other than the obvious right to defend ourselves against terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n One final question: how is the Russian dossier going? Is there any chance of revoking the sanctions?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cIf in June we find that the state of implementation of the Minsk agreements is sufficient, we\u2019ll be very happy to revoke or at least reduce them. But it\u2019s too early to say at the moment\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s right to talk about a two-speed Europe, although it isn\u2019t the best definition, because opposing views must and can coexist\u201d: the Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni thus announces that during the next meeting in Rome, between colleagues from the six founding countries of the EU, a \u201ccommon view of the future of the […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-23497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviste","tag-ministri-precedenti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23497","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}