Time.news – “Extraordinary unity” in condemning the aggression against Ukraine, “strong solidarity” in addressing its impacts on energy and agri-food security and “desperate” search for peace. This is how the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, summarizes the NATO and G7 summits that took place in Brussels.
The unity of the allies is also “in maintaining sanctions and in deciding to tighten them if necessary”. But the first goal is to achieve peace.
“We must be firm and pro-active with sanctions, so much must we absolutely and desperately seek peace. So Italy, like other European countries, is moving along these two tracks “, clarified the premier who during the day also had bilateral relations with the American president, Joe Biden; the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Dutch premier, Mark Rutte.
To have peace, China could come in handy. “A very important country that can play a crucial role by exercising its leverage“.
At the center of the confrontation between Western allies, the repercussions on energy and beyond are of great concern. Obviously, the dictate of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to pay for Russian gas only in rubles holds true.
“We see it as a violation of existing contracts,” said Draghi. “This is fundamentally a breach of contract: it is good to understand it. Therefore contracts are considered violated if this clause is applied by Russia”, replied the premier to repeated questions.
Returning to energy and agri-food security, in both cases the answer is “a combination of diversification, which we are doing for one and the other, thus changing the sources of supply. In other words Europe wants to become independent of Russian gas“, reiterated the Prime Minister upon his arrival at the Justus Lipsius in Brussels.
But there are also issues of “internal EU politics” that need to be addressed. Starting with the gas market which “works badly” for Draghi. “Prices are speculative, so we need to take measures. Specific measures have not been discussed because we will discuss them at the European Council”, he confirmed. The topic is on the agenda for Friday’s meeting.
The third pillar of the strategy is “the aid that must come from Canada, from the USA, from the large producers of liquid gas, and even on this there was extreme collaboration on the part of everyone “.
On the other hand, the debate on the increase in defense spending is part of Italian domestic politics, not frowned upon in particular by the M5s. Draghi, however, suggests that the path has already been mapped out: “I reiterated the commitment that all the other governments have taken towards NATO, so we have this commitment, which is historic for Italy, and we will continue to observe it” .