Brussels, 04/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The new President of the Republic of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, met the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council, in Brussels on Tuesday 3 March as part of his first official visit abroad.
Mattarella took this opportunity to reiterate Italy's traditional position in favour of European integration on the basis of the Community method. “In Brussels, I have perceived great attention towards Italy and its role. The idea that we have to work for increased integration, not just at economic and monetary level, but also on other fronts, is shared”, said the new tenant of Quirinal Palace, ANSA reports (our translation).
During his meetings, the Italian president discussed dossiers of European importance in which Italy is particularly involved, such as migration and the chaos in Libya. “President Mattarella has shown great political acumen and forward-looking vision in strongly reaffirming the need for Europe as a whole to focus on the issues of immigration and Libya”, the President of the S&D group at the EP, Gianni Pittella, said in a press release.
On financial assistance to Athens, Mattarella is reported to have said that Greece's exit from the Eurozone is “unthinkable”. Reasons should have been given for this position, according to the Italian MEPs of the EFDD group, Tiziana Beghin and Marco Zullo. The recent agreement between the Eurogroup on Greece “shows that within the Eurogroup, the Greeks will always suffer from the line of rigour imposed by the 'troika' and Germany”, they state in a press release (our translation), arguing that this position has “literally brought the citizens of Greece to their knees, like hundreds of thousands of Italian families”. (Mathieu Bion)