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Former Italian Prime Minister: The war in Ukraine left the Balkans in oblivion

Politiko 2023-03-31 19:35:05

Former Italian Prime Minister: The war in Ukraine left the Balkans in oblivion

Former Italian Prime Minister and simultaneously former President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, spoke in a Podcast with former Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati.

In a conversation lasting more than 30 minutes in the communication space "Public Square", Prodi and Bushati spoke about important issues which are the headlines of the political developments of the day and not only.

Prodi, with half a century of political experience, thinks the war in Ukraine is unlikely to end soon. According to him, " one of the consequences of this war is the rearmament of Germany, which in the long run will change the nature of Europe, because until now Europe has had an engine shaped by France in the political and military field and by Germany in the economic field. For five years, Germany will become a leader both in foreign policy and in economic policy. And this is a big change."

Prodi thinks that: " This is the moment when the United States should show an interest in keeping Europe united, because there are objectively different interests between the US and Europe in the economic field. Because of the war, the Balkans have been forgotten. And this is a very big mistake. The Western Balkans must definitely become part of the European Union, as soon as possible" .

Prodi and Bushati also talked about the level of Albanian-Italian cooperation and the lack of routine in this relationship.

"Politics does not tolerate empty spaces, and if Italy is not there, Turkey will take its place," Prodi declares. Waiting for the European policy to change, he suggests a 5-year strategy for the intensification of bilateral ties, as according to him "relations are good, economic relations are strong, but there is no idea how to come to a strategy that will be very useful also in terms of negotiations with the European Union" .

Prodi and Bushati also talked about the intensification of the ties between the political parties in Italy and Albania with a special attention to the commonalities in politics. In this regard, Prodi considers it necessary to undertake a special action against the French government, since Albania's delay in the EU membership process turns into an obstacle and not an asset.

According to Prodi, "the common political framework is useful to remind Italy that this is its mission. This is not an insignificant step but an important progress"

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