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Did Draghi disappoint the superbideans?

2 years ago babelfish

Did Draghi disappoint the superbideans?

What did Prime Minister Mario Draghi say and what did he make to understand at the press conference at the Italian Embassy in Washington after meeting Joe Biden at the White House.

"President Zelensky has to define what victory is, not us."

This is the key sentence – which is causing analysts to debate – pronounced by the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, in a press conference at the Italian embassy in Washington after meeting yesterday with Joe Biden at the White House.

What does it mean? It must therefore be Ukraine that essentially determines if and when to decide on a ceasefire or the start of negotiations with Russia.

A position that, according to many observers, deviates from the line of the United States and the United Kingdom, which are pressing for a de facto weakening of Moscow's power thanks to Western military aid in Kiev, up to a regime change in Moscow.

A position that differs from the expectations of the White House, if we consider what Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, a research center considered very close to the Biden administration had underlined: "On the fundamentals, Rome and Washington are 100% on the same frequency" , said the political scientist Bremmer interviewed by Formiche di Paolo Messa (former director of the Center for American Studies and now top manager of the Leonardo group in the United States), who summarized Bremmer's thought as follows: “In Washington Draghi compacts NATO, Italy aligned and excellent relations with Biden ".

But what did Draghi say at the press conference?

“Yesterday's meeting with President Biden went very well. In this meeting we agreed on the fact that we must support Ukraine – President Draghi began – but we must also start talking about peace. And it must be a peace that Ukraine wants ”.

“We agreed that we need to continue to support Ukraine and put pressure on Moscow but also to start asking ourselves how peace is built. The negotiation path is very difficult but the first point is how to build this negotiation path, it must be a peace that Ukraine wants, not an imposed peace ”, said the premier.

The war has changed its face, initially it was a war in which it was thought there was a Goliath and a David, essentially a desperate defense that also seemed to fail, today the landscape has completely turned upside down, certainly there is no longer a Goliath, certainly what appeared to be an invincible power in the field and with conventional weapons proved not invincible ”.

"All parties must make an effort to get to sit around a table, even the US", reiterated the prime minister. "At the beginning of the war in parliament it was said in Italy that we had to have a role, I replied that we must not seek a role, we must seek peace, whoever the people involved are the important thing is that they seek peace, not biased statements. We must not try to win, the victory is not defined: for Ukraine it means rejecting the invasion but for the others? ”.

Then there is the problem of energy prices. "Italy is doing a lot to achieve independence from Russian gas," said Draghi. "I also reminded Biden about the possibility of putting a ceiling on the price of gas, a welcome hypothesis, even if the US administration is reflecting more on an oil price ceiling than on gas, it was decided that we will talk about it again soon. together". Thus Prime Minister Mario Draghi in Washington at a press conference after meeting with US President Joe Biden. In the energy market "distortions are very strong in the EU, now the measures are in the planning stage if they can be taken" but "in the EU we must agree and as you know the opinions are not unanimous but on this we will continue to move forward ".

“Central banks have to raise rates but if they raise them too much they cause the country to fall into recession but Lagarde is fully aware of this difficulty. The situation is very different between the US and the EU, in the US the labor market is fully employed, in Europe it is not, so the pace of normalization of monetary policy will necessarily be different. We as a government can try to mitigate the loss of purchasing power on the weaker categories ”.

“With Joe Biden we talked about the food crisis caused by the blockade of various grains from Ukraine because the ports are blocked. Lavrov said they are blocked because ports are mined. This may be a first example of dialogue being built between the two sides to save tens of millions of people ”.

In the meeting with President Biden the issue of the reconstruction of Ukraine was also addressed: “The EU should give a collective response for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Individual countries have no resources, Italy will do its part together with the others ". “To date, I do not see a recession this year: the reason is that we finished last year very very well and we carry acquired growth with us. It seems very difficult to me that there could be a recession this year ”.

It remains to be seen whether the position that Draghi showed in public was the one presented by the Italian prime minister to the president of the United States.

There are those who, on the basis of the premier's words at the press conference, glimpse an approach similar to that of Macron, as pointed out by the scientific advisor of Limes , Germano Dottori:

The opinion of the editorialist of Repubblica, Stefano Folli, who wrote in the daily newspaper directed by Maurizio Molinari is different: "It cannot be said that Draghi followed Macron's theses on the need to reach an agreement on" European security "as soon as possible in which also include Russia, "without humiliation or revenge". The Italian premier has followed his own line, the fulcrum of which consists in having held the two halves of the apple together: the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance. It was not obvious, as Biden acknowledged. It is a political architecture that at this moment only Draghi, among the European leaders, seems capable of realizing ”.

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THE REPORT OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE OF DRAGHI IN THE STATES BY THE REPORT OF THE AGI:

At first, the Ukrainian war was thought to unfold like the biblical tale of David and Goliath, but Russia has proven that it "is not an invincible subject". Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi expresses words of optimism after the meeting he had yesterday and which went "very well" with the president of the United States. With Biden, a harmony of views was reached on the negotiation path which is "very difficult" and "the first point is how to build it". In any case, "it must not be a peace imposed either by one type of ally or by others," he adds.

For the prime minister, it is necessary to bring "all the parties" to the table and suggests where to start: "The unblocking of grain from Ukrainian ports can be a test of dialogue".

Draghi rejects the need for Italy to find a role: "At the beginning of the war, many said that Italy had to have it and I replied: it is not necessary to seek a role, but peace". "Whoever is the person or persons involved, and I hope that there is an initiative of this kind, are looking for peace and not partisan affirmations".

In other words, explains the premier, “whoever makes this effort must be a person, a country, an institution that is not trying to win. Moreover, if you think about it, victory is not defined: for the Ukrainians it is defined because it means rejecting evasion. But for the others? ".

Still on peace, Draghi insists, we need a table with everyone. "Ukraine is the main actor around this table", explains the premier. “It is necessary – he continues – to remove the suspicion that the weaker parties, especially the Ukrainians, have at this moment, that an imposed peace can be reached. A peace that suits the USA, Europe and Russians but is not acceptable to the Ukrainians. it is the recipe for disaster, because at that point the peace will not be credible, because the first to keep the peace will be the Ukrainians and the Russians. Otherwise there will be no peace, there will be a fake peace that will be betrayed every moment ".

In this sense, it is therefore necessary to ensure that this peace table is created and to initiate contacts "at all levels": the Prime Minister invites us to think about tomorrow. "We must be able not to forget, because this is impossible, but to look to the future", he argues, referring to Ukrainian reconstruction after the conflict. To do this, Draghi's invitation is to act in a compact manner within the EU.

“Clearly a European country like Italy has no resources in the national budget to participate alone in the Ukrainian reconstruction and therefore the whole European Union needs to invest and give a collective response. Italy will do its part but together with the others ”, argues the premier.

However, the need to initiate contacts at all levels does not mean pretending that nothing has happened, but being more forward-looking. For example, underlines the head of the government, at the G20 "we would all be tempted not to sit at the table with Putin". But then he adds: “You can't. On the other hand, the rest of the world is not at that table, getting up – he observes – would mean abandoning that rest of the world ".

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/draghi-bideniani/ on Wed, 11 May 2022 18:48:24 +0000.