The Union's experience has been "extraordinarily successful", but there are still gaps to fill, such as the decision-making processes that are still too cumbersome. From the stage of "Agricoltura è", in Rome, Sergio Mattarella responds to some students and launches an appeal to Brussels: "We need quick and timely responses. Europe needs to update itself".
The Head of State's concern is above all for tariffs, because for a country like Italy, open market cooperation "corresponds to two vital needs": peace and the concrete interests of an exporting country. He has no doubts about this: "Tariffs create obstacles to markets, obstacles to freedom of trade, alter markets, penalize quality products." This is "unacceptable" for our country, he denounces, but "it should be so for all countries in the world." When we talk about trade wars, Mattarella observes, the emphasis is often placed on the adjective commercial, but it should be placed on the word 'wars': "These too are wars of opposition, which then lead to increasingly harsh and dangerous oppositions," he warns.
The president trusts, however, that the European Union has the strength to interact "calmly, but also with determination, to counter such an unmotivated choice as duties. Europe is a strong entity", he emphasizes, suggesting to remain "calm, without fueling a fit of concern".
"Every move for de-escalation is really necessary," says the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, who will be in Rome tomorrow invited to the Masaf village. He asks to return to the negotiating table, rather than simply announcing new measures. Easing the tone is also the position of the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida: "We do not want the situation to worsen," he explains, reading in Mattarella's words "the need for a firm and reasonable attitude in the attempt to guarantee both economies."
From the Italy-Sweden Business Forum, the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, asks not to imitate reacting to Donald Trump's moves, but to "act to create our own energy policy, our own industrial policy, our own commercial policy". The European Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovic, is traveling to Washington, where he will meet his American counterparts, the Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and the US Representative for Trade Jamieson Greer. Good news for the Vice President of the European Commission Raffaele Fitto, who is confident in the negotiation: "The path seems to me to be that of composition and dialogue".
(Online Union)