«Everything that goes in the direction of peace is fine…». Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani repeats it several times during the conversation with Future. This applies to the conflict in the Middle East, but also to the one in Ukraine. While we converse, news arrives of the new push and pull between Hamas and Israel over the possible truce. And the interview, in which the deputy prime minister and leader of Forza Italia discusses war and peace, but also European elections and post-vote scenarios and internal issues, such as the clash with the judiciary over the separation of careers, starts precisely from the new negotiations in the Middle East.
Minister, if in the end Israel and Hamas were to agree on could a form of truce hold this time, in your opinion?
We hope that steps are taken towards peace, every act that goes in that direction is good. The ceasefire is the most important thing. Precisely in these hours, the push for negotiations on the part of the Biden administration, of the president himself together with his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who incidentally is a great friend of Italy, has doubled. I believe that at this point it is useless for us to discuss details: Israel and Hamas must accept the conditions, to move from a phase of open war to that of negotiations for reconstruction. We need to rebuild Gaza, help its population who have suffered harsh violence. And we need to rebuild a political path to bring Palestinians and Israelis back to face the goal of having two states.
In the meantime, Italy is working together with the international community to alleviate the conditions of the civilian population, with the Food for Gaza operation, which started from Nepi.
That’s right. I have just finished attending the loading operations of supplies (food, health kits, hygiene material, hospital tents) ready to leave by plane, via Brindisi, or by sea from Gioia Tauro, to arrive in Gaza through the humanitarian corridors. An Italian project in which FAO, WFP, Red Cross, Red Crescent participate.
Is Iran still contributing to tension in the area?
This crisis in Gaza, with the role that the Houthis, supported by Iran, have had in the Red Sea, confirms that Tehran is a protagonist in the region. A power that often prefers the use of military force to destabilize, rather than political collaboration. We want to continue to deal with Iran, warning however that – on strategic dossiers such as the nuclear one – the international community feels an urgency that Tehran in turn seems to want to continually challenge.
Moveoces in Ukraine. While there is a risk of escalation looming, should targets on Russian territory be struck, is a peace hypothesis still viable, through a ceasefire with a diplomatic table for negotiations between Kiev and Moscow?
We must avoid any mistakes that could push the crisis out of control. And for this reason Italy has asked Ukraine to use within its territory the military instruments that we have provided for the defense of an attacked and invaded nation. In parallel, however, we must continue to provide political and military support to Kiev.
With what perspective?
Our goal is to reach a stalemate, in which Putin’s Russia itself understands that it is better to start a negotiation phase, a negotiation to put an end to the terrible massacre of this uncivilized, savage, anti-European war.
There is also the North African front, whose instability remains far from reassuring.
The stabilization of Libya remains a strategic objective of the Italian Government. And the “Mattei Plan” is starting to come into action, certainly not to take away resources from African countries, but to grow their economies, help them stabilize socially and fight dangerous phenomena such as climate change.
THEn this scenario, in a few days hundreds of millions of European citizens will go to the polls to elect the new Parliament. What does it tell them?
I invite everyone to go and vote. Europe is part of our identity, we are Italians and Europeans: one of the first pro-Europeans was Dante Alighieri. Europe is the only continent where there is no death penalty, it is the cradle of our identity, of our civilization, it was born from Christian roots and Roman culture.
Do the Brothers of Italy and the League also think so? You have just defended President Mattarella from the attack of Northern League members who called for his resignation, just because he had spoken of “European sovereignty”.
I expressed my solidarity with the head of state. It seems totally inappropriate for anyone to ask for his resignation, especially on June 2nd, Republic Day. But I also express my support for the president’s ideas: we are Italians and we are Europeans. Europe is our identity and our history. We are European to the core, but this does not mean that we have to give up our Italian identity. I think like Mattarella.
Instead, the League believes that Italian sovereignty is everything.
Let me tell you something. Compared to other political movements, we are different: we are pro-Europeans, and in fact we are part of the family of the European People’s Party, which gave life to Europe with De Gasperi, Adenauer, Schuman. We are different from the League culturally.
But govern together.
Yes. And for years, not only in this legislature. In the centre-right, we are loyal allies in the national government, in the regions and in the municipalities, but with respect to Europe we have a different vision, so much so that we belong to different political families.
Differences which, however, also exist in concrete terms. On seaside resorts, for example, Fdi is not in favor of applying the Bolkenstein directive, which is a European act, and asks to raise a conflict of attribution with respect to the recent ruling of the Council of State on the matter.
We at Fi are pro-Europeans and believe in respecting European standards. We will see if the attribution conflict will actually be raised. In my opinion, the most useful path to take remains that of negotiation with Brussels.
Let’s go back to the elections. As a goal for Forza Italia, you have set 10%. And for the presidency of the Commission, do you still think an encore from Ursula von der Leyen is possible?
The European People’s Party will continue to be central in identifying the next President of the Commission. In the last legislature he indicated Weber, whose name came up in the clash with Timmermans and then he opted for von der Leyen, who this time was indicated directly as spitzenkandidat. We will see, after the vote, whether his name will pass the scrutiny of the Council and Parliament. The only certain thing is that the EPP will be decisive.
Does Mario Draghi consider the hypothesis possible or far-fetched?
The former governor of the ECB is an excellent person. But he is nobody’s candidate. Weber also said that he is not the EPP candidate.
And she? There are those who circulate her name.
I am flattered that someone remembers me, evidently mindful of my past as president of the European Parliament and vice-president of the Commission. But, if they asked me, I would decline. I believe it is my duty to stay where I am, continuing to put at the service of the country and the government of which I am part an experience in international relations gained over thirty years of presence in the European institutions.
Let’s get to the things in our house. The opposition accuses you of having written – with the premiership, separation of the careers of magistrates and autonomies – terrible reforms, the result of a triple barter between the majority forces. How does he respond?
There is no barter, there are political objectives that have been indicated in a clear and transparent manner to the Italian voters, who voted for our parties. The separation of magistrates’ careers is a stage in the process of reorganizing justice, certainly not a subversive action, as some portray it. And those to get to the premiership are proposals to be discussed, with the aim of having more stable governments, not of compressing any democratic freedom.
Yet the separation of careers risks opening up an unprecedented phase of conflict between the executive and the ordinary judiciary. Doesn’t that worry you?
We must be very clear: the reform revises an Italian peculiarity that has no analogues in European democracies. The judge who judges and the magistrate who represents the prosecution must be part of separate organisations. This is a reform to make justice more efficient.
