«Italy must be helped. Walls to defend Europe»- Corriere.it

«On migration, concrete measures of solidarity towards Italy by the other EU countries are needed. This is why the EPP group this week asked for a special debate in the EU Parliament to seek solidarity with Italy”. Speaks Manfred Weber
president and group leader in the EU Parliament of the European People’s Party, which for months has been spending itself personally for the alliance led by Giorgia Meloni.

Rome has declared a state of emergency. How can the EU help Italy?

“We are facing another major migration crisis in Europe. And that is why the EPP fully supports the Italian government in prioritizing this issue at the European level. We need common actions and we very much regret the fact that there is not much awareness, nor listening nor much action on the part of the Commission and the EU states towards a serious problem”.

Do you think the plan presented by von der Leyen in February is not enough?

«The plan is good, but we are late in implementing it. The joint management of the phenomenon with the countries of North Africa must not be seen only as an Italian effort to stop the departure of the boats. We need clear readmission agreements with the countries of origin immediately. For years the Commission has promised them, it must accelerate. If a migrant is not entitled to protection, she must go home”.

Was Rome left alone?

«At EU level, solidarity does not work. I thank the Italian government for the way it welcomes migrants and tries to save and help them. When we have such a high number of arrivals and the Italian government tries to handle things seriously, other countries like Germany and France have to help. The German and French governments, but also the others, cannot stand idly by, they must voluntarily bring migrants with a right to asylum to their territory”.

On Wednesday, the EPP will present an amendment to the 2024 EU budget to finance the construction of walls on the EU’s external borders. Why?

«Walls should be an exception, the last answer, but if it is not possible to stop illegal immigration in any other way, then we must also be ready to build fences. All the countries with an external border are building one: Greece with Turkey, Poland and Lithuania with Belarus, Finland with Russia when the government was still socialist, Spain with Ceuta and Melilla. The EPP thinks that the EU should finance these fences because it is not a question of protecting national borders but European ones”.

How to help Italy?

«The maritime border is extremely complicated because the priority at sea is to save lives and that is what the authorities and the Italian Coast Guard are doing. For that I thank them. Together we must stabilize the Mediterranean route. A European plan is needed, the EU Commission and the Member States must present a concrete proposal for Tunisia to the next European Council. We already did it years ago with the EU plan for Turkey, for which we spent around 6 billion. A similar effort is needed with our partners in North Africa.”

Is the EU Commission wrong in not wanting to finance the construction of fences?

«There is no legal problem, I share President Michel’s opinion, it is a political question and that is why we will discuss and vote in the EU Parliament. I think that the other parties, such as the liberals, the socialists and the greens, must explain why they build fences at national level but vote against them in the EU Parliament and this is not serious for me”.

Tomorrow, President von der Leyen will speak in the plenary on EU-China relations. Is there a unity problem in the EU?

«Macron’s interview was a disaster, it made clear the great rift within the EU in defining a common strategic plan towards Beijing. At the next European Council in June, the leaders will have to discuss it and find an agreement».

Do you agree with Macron’s position on the strategic autonomy of the EU?

«On the one hand, it is true that greater independence is needed, but on the other, exports are key for the EU. In addition to strategic autonomy, we need a willingness to build free trade agreements with the free world”.

Should the EU distance itself from Sino-US tensions over Taiwan as Macron says?

«The EU must have a strong voice defined by the European interest. But at a time when there are Chinese warships off Taiwan’s shores, Macron’s words of equidistance have been a disaster and have weakened the EU. Now the Eastern countries will be more aligned with Washington than with Paris or Berlin».