The Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, meets the American President at the White House tonight, Joe Biden, and it is obvious that the war between Russia and Ukraine and its developments will be at the center of the talks. It is certainly not an easy mission for our premier, who, with his usual diplomatic skill, will have to try to harmonize his undisputed Atlantic loyalty with an equally strong pro-European vocation. It is not easy, not so much because the majority of him do not lack those who advise him to recommend Biden to tone down against Russia, but because yesterday's warning from French President Emmanuel Macron, who is also the current President of the European Union, was very clear. Macron openly supports Ukraine but has not lost the thread of dialogue with Putin and said clearly yesterday: “We must aim for a truce between Russia and Ukraine in order to then arrive at peace, but peace cannot be made by humiliating Russia".
The USA and Europe have two lines on the Russia-Ukraine war: Draghi from Biden will seek a balance point
Macron's words, which are certainly affected by the French electoral climate where a large part of the electorate has never hidden its closeness to Russia, clearly photograph the line differences between the US and the EU. Biden wants to defeat Putin on the field in the hope of unseating him while Macron with all of Europe (Germany in the lead) aims only for peace between Russia and Ukraine, without worrying about internal developments in the Kremlin and believing that too strong a humiliation of Moscow would probably push Russia in the arms of China.
This is why Draghi's mission to the White House today is not easy at all and will require all the diplomatic skills of our prime minister. The meeting, which will take place at 20 Italian time, will have at the center – as he informs an official note from Palazzo Chigi – “coordination with the Allies on measures in support of the Ukrainian people and in contrast to the unjustified aggression of Russia”. In other words: "United for Ukraine, seek peace", trying to understand if the non-final discourse ("No total war") but entirely specious of Putin at the military parade on Red Square in Moscow (“The West was preparing an invasion and Russia could do nothing but intervene in Ukraine”) ajar or not the doors to the start of a serious negotiation that leads at least to a truce between Russians and Ukrainians.
Macron: "It is only up to Ukraine to establish the conditions for negotiations with Russia"
Draghi will not be able to ignore yesterday's speech by Macron at the end of the Conference for the future of Europe in the hall of the European Parliament: "We will continue to support Ukraine", said the French President, according to which "the goal is peace as soon as possible, but preventing Russia from winning. And any escalation must also be avoided“. Clearly marking a distance from the US, Macron then added that “Europe is not at war with Moscow but is in favor of Ukrainian sovereignty", to be defended by avoiding the "temptation of humiliation or revenge" against Russia, but also specifying that it is up to Ukraine alone to "set the conditions for negotiations with Russia". Words especially appreciated by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Today it's up to Draghi to find the right balance between Europe and the USA, knowing that peace is the goal of the whole West but that the ways to get there are different.
