Italy to make US bridge-building a presidency priority

Date: 17/04/03

ITALY is planning to make transatlantic relations a key priority for its EU presidency during the second half of this year.

Gianfranco Fini, the country's deputy premier, believes Rome's cordial relations with Washington can help it heal the rift which has developed between several European countries and the US over military action against Baghdad.

"Italy, which provided political support for the war in Iraq, will be able to act on two fronts: mending [transatlantic] ties with France and Germany and achieving a fresh boost to the transatlantic relationship of the European Union as a whole," he recently told Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Referring to plans for Italy's six-month presidency, which kicks off on 1 July, Fini added: "If the presidency had fallen to a country less committed to a policy of active friendship with the United States, the US would probably have less confidence in the EU than it may have today."

Fini, leader of the right-wing Alleanza Nazionale, said he believed humanitarian aid for Iraq could only avoid being looted if "armed men trained for peacekeeping" are deployed there.

He voiced hope that the UN Security Council would give the go-ahead for a "blue-helmet" international peacekeeping force in Iraq but indicated that Britain and the US might have to take the lead in restoring law and order.

"If the bickering and the rifts that emerged in the United Nations before the conflict were to reflect on this phase as well, then all of those who shouldered the honour and the burden of freeing the Iraqi people should also shoulder the burden for stabilizing that area."

A spokesman for the Italian government confirmed that transatlantic links are due to be a key issue for the forthcoming presidency.

But he said he was unaware of any specific initiatives for improving the EU-US relationship currently on the drawing board.

Improving EU-US relations will be one of the key priorities of the Italian government when it takes over the Presidency of the EU on 1 July 2003 according to Gianfranco Fini, the country's deputy premier.