" Putin thought of dividing us, he failed ." These are the first words that Mario Draghi , received in the Oval Office at the White House in an interview with Joe Biden , said. For over an hour and a half, the two discussed the emergency in Ukraine, how to help Kiev and continue to weaken Moscow with sanctions. Energy and food security are also on the table.
" The war in Ukraine will bring massive changes in Europe", added the prime minister: "We were close and now we are even closer and I know that we can count on your support as a sincere friend of the EU and of Italy ".
The two interlocutors said they were " united in condemning the invasion, united in sanctions and in helping Ukraine as President Zelensky asked us".
"Our nations are united in a strong way and the war in Ukraine has further strengthened the union," Draghi told the American president.
“In Italy and in Europe, people want an end to these massacres, this violence, this butchery. People think what we can do to bring peace ”, the premier stressed, noting the need to“ use every channel for peace, for a ceasefire and the start of credible negotiations ”.
Biden, for his part, defined Italy's cooperation as "fundamental" and spoke of the premier as " a good friend and a great ally ". "A strong European Union is in the interests of the US", added the US president, recalling the "long history of shared ties" between the United States and Italy and underlining that in the US there are "many Italian-Americans proud of their origins" .
“There is one thing I appreciate about you - the landlord said to Draghi -, your effort from the beginning to have united NATO and the EU and you have succeeded . It was hard to believe that they went hand in hand, it was more likely that they would split but you managed to make them go in unison ”.
Present at the meeting, among others, on the Italian side were the ambassador to Washington Mariangela Zappia, the diplomatic adviser Luigi Mattiolo, the military general Luigi De Leverano and the economic one Francesco Giavazzi. On the American side, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and White House Councilor for European Affairs Amanda Sloat.
(Unioneonline / L)
