"Russia is no longer invincible", and all parties must make "an effort to get to sit around a table, even the USA". Only in this way will it be possible to finally begin to talk about peace. This was stated by Prime Minister Mario Draghi during the meeting with the press held at the Italian embassy in Washington. The day after the meeting at the White House with US President Joe Biden, the Premier summarized the contents of the discussion which inevitably had the war in Ukraine as its central theme, but also and above all peace in Ukraine.
Draghi: "We need to start talking about peace, Russia is not invincible"
“Yesterday's meeting with President Biden went very well – began Draghi. Biden thanked Italy as a strong partner, a reliable ally, an interlocutor, a credible one and I thanked him for his leadership role in this crisis and the great collaboration with all the allies". Then the Premier went into the merits of the talk: “We agreed that we need to continue to support Ukraine and put pressure on Moscow but also start wondering how peace is built. The negotiation path is very difficult but the first point is how to build this negotiating path, it must be a peace that Ukraine wants, not a peace imposed by a certain type of allies or by others”, underlined the Prime Minister.
“All parties must make an effort to get to sit around a table, even the US. Must remove the suspicion that an imposed peace will be reached, which suits the USA, the Europeans, Russia, but not the Ukrainians. This would be a recipe for disaster, because the first to keep the peace will be the Ukrainians and the Russians. Thus the participation of parties involved in the war is critical for peace to be sustainable for years to come. It is essential not to try to win, because otherwise we will not be able to achieve peace”, Draghi reiterated.
“The war – he continued – has changed its physiognomy. Initially it was a war in which it was thought there was a Goliath and a David, essentially a desperate defense that also seemed to fail, today the panorama has completely turned upside down, certainly there is no longer a Goliath, certainly what appeared to be an invincible power in the field and with conventional weapons she proved not invincibleDraghi said.
The role of Italy in the negotiations
“At the beginning of the war it was said in Italy in parliament that we had to have a role, I replied that you don't have to look for a role, you have to look for peace, whoever the people involved are, the important thing is that they seek peace, not partisan affirmations. We must not try to win, victory is not defined: for Ukraine it means rejecting the invasion but for the others?” asked Draghi.
Furthermore, according to the Premier, “we must look to the future and think about the reconstruction of Ukraine” and the EU must give “a collective response for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Individual countries have no resources, Italy will do its part together with the others”.
Energy: "Let's reflect on the gas price ceiling, let's push on renewables"
"The hypothesis of putting a ceiling on the price of gas it was welcomed even though the US administration is reflecting more on the oil price ceiling than on the gas price ceiling. It has been decided that we will talk about it together”, said the prime minister, confirming that “Italy is doing a lot to achieve independence from Russian gas”.
In the energy market, he then explained, “land distortions are very strong in the EU, now the measures, if they can be taken, are being planned” but “in the EU we have to agree and as you know the opinions are not unanimous but we will continue to move forward on this”.
The Prime Minister underlined that "Any initiative on gas, oil and coal that helps to overcome this moment of crisis must not go to detriment of renewables and the ecological transition goals we have set ourselves. The Italian government has taken numerous simplification measures and we will not hesitate to take others if we do not see an increase in investments in renewables which also means actual installations".
Draghi: "The ECB's task on inflation is not easy"
Responding to a question on the fight against inflation, Draghi stated that “the central banks have to raise rates but if they raise them too much they cause the country to fall into recession but Lagarde is fully aware of this difficulty. The situation is very different between the USA and the EU, in the USA the labor market is fully employed, not in Europe, therefore the pace of normalization of monetary policy will necessarily be different. We as a government can try to mitigate the loss of purchasing power on the weakest categories”.
The food crisis
“With Joe Biden we talked about food crisis caused by the blockade of various grains from Ukraine because the ports are blocked. Lavrov said they are blocked because the ports are mined. This may be a first example of dialogue being built between the two sides to save tens of millions of people,” the premier said.
Draghi: "I don't see a recession for Italy"
"As of today, I don't see a recession this year: the reason is that we closed last year very very well and we carry acquired growth with us. It seems to me very unlikely that there will be a recession this year. It is a situation of great uncertainty but we cannot say that it will go to the worst for the whole economy”, concluded Draghi.
