Tomorrow the Italian premier Matteo Renzi will meet the German chancellor Angela Merkel and will discuss with her “the behavior of Germany, which begins all the appointments of the European Union with a bilateral meeting with France. I would be grateful if Angela and François could solve all the problems, but unfortunately it doesn't work like that”. This is the controversy opened by the Prime Minister in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“If you are looking for an overall strategy to resolve the refugee issue – continued Renzi – it cannot be enough if Merkel first calls Hollande and then the president of the EU Commission, Juncker, and I find out about the result in the press. As everyone knows, I respect Angela Merkel. I met her before becoming prime minister and even then I explained to her the reforms I had in mind. Now in Berlin I will be able to tell about the progress made. I did what I had to do and today I can speak from another position even on the points of disagreement, especially as there are many more things on which we agree”.
For example, both “we see the danger that Europe will lose itself and that only ruins will remain – added the Premier –, like those of the Maya. If we want to save Europe we must also save our culture. When it comes to Europe, the ideology of 0,1% or 0,2% of the budget deficit cannot be central, but it must be about our heritage and our common future”.
On the issue of refugees, Renzi admits that "we need to better control European borders", but the decision on who can stay and who should be sent home "cannot be the responsibility of individual states, but must be taken in the name and on behalf of Europe”.
The prime minister admits that in the past Italy has not registered all the migrants, "but in the meantime we have opened some hot spots in Sicily and we are setting up another one in the North-East". Finally, Renzi speaks out against setting ceilings and quotas: "We need a European plan that respects human rights and not hasty decisions dictated by emotion".
