(Adnkronos) – Increasing spending to guarantee Defense “is a necessity, as well as a duty imposed by the Constitution”. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in an interview with ‘La Stampa’. And to the Minister of Finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti, he says: “He has his sacrosanct concerns about public finances, but there are also other priorities to take into account: national security is at stake here”.
On the 40 billion fund for Kiev, “we’ll see, it seems to me that there are still many questions, from many countries. It is a proposal that needs to be explained well in detail, which needs to be analyzed and explored”. “We – he reiterates – are always committed to helping Ukraine, but we need to carefully assess what the costs will be, because we will also have to invest a lot of resources to adapt to NATO parameters and von der Leyen’s ReArm Europe plan. We have launched eleven aid packages for Ukraine and we have given everything we could give. In this Foreign Affairs Council there will be a further interlocutory discussion, after which we will evaluate what to do, but after having made an overall assessment together with the Minister of Defense”.
As for sending troops, “I also said it to Marco Rubio at the G7: we are willing to send our soldiers to Ukraine on a peacekeeping operation, but only within the framework of a UN mission. Otherwise no, we cannot. And in any case, we must first reach peace and first of all a ceasefire. We support the American initiative, but we are still waiting for Putin’s response”.
