ROME \u2013 At the meeting of the \u201cHigh Level Group on Syria\u201d scheduled for 28 February 2013 in Rome, Italy and the European countries\u2019 proposal to the United States will be for \u201cgreater flexibility\u201d in measures supporting the opposition to Assad\u2019s regime. Most notably, they will ask for the \u201cnon-lethal\u201d military aid to be extended to include technical assistance and training, in order to \u201cconsolidate the activity of the coalition\u201d. <\/P>
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This was the news from Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi di Sant\u2019Agata, in an interview with the Corriere as his mandate at the Farnesina draws to a close. The summit was organised by Italian diplomacy at the request of the new US Secretary of State, John Kerry. Taking part will be the 11 countries most closely involved in handling the Syrian crisis, and representatives of the opposition to Damascus. <\/P>
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\u201cThe request was made because Washington has seen the continuity and keen focus with which the Italian Government has been following the Syrian crisis for over a year. We have been working hard, together with the Special Envoy for the Middle East, a position that I created on my arrival. The main effort lay in helping the somewhat nebulous opposition come together and find common ground. And we succeeded. A firm platform now exists, which represents an alternative to Assad in terms both of proposals and of personnel. But we need to seek a political solution to the carnage: we cannot wait for yet more tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of refugees. They Americans are aware of the urgent need to resolve the crisis\u201d. <\/P>
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What are the difficulties still overshadowing the opening of talks?<\/STRONG><\/P> <\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cAssad\u2019s departure is a seriously divisive issue. We think the talks could start even while his regime is still in place, with the involvement of Russia and China, with a view to phasing out the regime. In other words, the dictator\u2019s departure would be the end point rather than the starting point. Of course, the political conditions must be in place: it\u2019s hard to imagine negotiations starting while bombing and massacres are still going on, refugees are fleeing the country and the prisons are full. We need to see signs of good faith. Rome is therefore an important \u2018staging post\u2019, given the dramatic nature of the crisis\u201d. <\/P> <\/STRONG><\/P> John Kerry\u2019s other Italian engagement is on 27 February: the \u201cTransatlantic Dinner\u201d with the Atlantic community foreign ministers. What will you be talking about?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cFirst, allow me to point out that Kerry\u2019s visit comes at the end of a period that has seen Italy\u2019s role in Europe, in the Mediterranean, in the Middle East, and in various African countries grow stronger. And one certain factor in this has been the direct commitment of the Head of State, his many trips abroad and his constant action and presence. The Transatlantic meeting is concrete proof of our credibility as a country, and proof that we are making a difference on key questions. <\/P> We\u2019ll be discussing current international issues, but at the top of the agenda I\u2019d put a major issue for the future: the opening of talks for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Talks that I\u2019m convinced will profoundly change the EU-USA relationship. The negotiations will be complex, but this is a vital step and a demonstration of how the \u2018pivot to Asia\u2019, which has generated so much discussion, can become a \u2018pivot to the Atlantic\u2019. It means focusing our attention once again on everything that can generate growth, innovation and research in the Western world\u201d.<\/P> But is Europe ready to take on the risks of a game where the stakes are so high?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cThere are certainly some very critical dossiers, but I have the impression that the climate in Brussels has changed. There\u2019s a perception that the agreement is a necessary challenge, given the serious weakness of our economies, because the estimates suggest that it could produce a \u2018growth effect\u2019 of about 250 billion euros a year in GDP, i.e. nearly 1%. The other important factor is that if the talks are successful then numerous rules governing trade and services would continue to be drawn up by the West, whereas if they failed then in a few years time we\u2019d be subjected to rules drawn up by others\u201d. <\/P> What would that mean for Italy and how should future governments act?<\/STRONG><\/P> <\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cOur biggest challenge is to restore growth through policies such as training for young people, innovation, research and greater competitiveness in our universities. We need a change of mind-set which, unfortunately, as a citizen I have to say is entirely lacking in the current electoral debate. The reasons may be understandable, but there is no focus at all on knowledge, in the form of innovation, research, training\u2026 all of which are essential to the revitalisation of our economy\u201d. <\/P> What is Italy\u2019s place in Europe and the world?<\/STRONG><\/P> <\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cIn Europe, Italy must resume its role as a driver of political integration and be mindful of our country\u2019s need of Europe. And at the global level, we must meet the great demand for Italy and all things Italian. The two aspects are closely linked\u201d. <\/P> Do you agree that the lack of strong leaders is one of the main causes of the European crisis?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cI agree that we not succeeded recently in installing great statesmen and \u2013women at the head of the European institutions. We haven\u2019t kept up with public opinion. And the tendency in forming consensus has been passive, when we should have been standing out from the crowd and offering new visions. We\u2019re probably suffering from the lack of grand ideals and political and social projects. We\u2019ve fallen into a sort of decline or inward-looking inertia linked to our day-to-day material conditions. It\u2019s inevitable in some respects, but we\u2019re at risk of falling into a disorderly spin\u201d.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROME \u2013 At the meeting of the \u201cHigh Level Group on Syria\u201d scheduled for 28 February 2013 in Rome, Italy and the European countries\u2019 proposal to the United States will be for \u201cgreater flexibility\u201d in measures supporting the opposition to Assad\u2019s regime. Most notably, they will ask for the \u201cnon-lethal\u201d military aid to be extended […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[6,76],"class_list":["post-24288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviste","tag-mediterraneo-e-medio-oriente","tag-ministri-precedenti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24288","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=24288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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