Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister
Antonio Tajani said Sunday that it is necessary to seek to
construct a stronger European Union given the current
international climate, rather than try to tear it down.
"We are working to make Europe more and more everyone's home,"
Tajani told an event staged by his centre-right Forza Italia
(FI) party in Florence in the run-up to the European People's
Party (EPP) congress.
"We need to build, not break things up, in order to defend the
interests of half a billion people".
Tajani's pro-EU positions have frequently contrasted with the
Euroscepticism of his fellow deputy premier, Transport Minister
and League leader Matteo Salvini.
This has been seen recently with the way the two leaders have
responded to European Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen's ReArm Europe plan, which Tajani welcomed but Salvini
criticised.
"Forza Italia is in excellent health," Tajani said.
"We are the third biggest party in Italy, the second biggest in
the centre-right.
"We are loyal to the government, but we will never give up our
ideas, we will not bend down when it comes to defending our
values".
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