ROMA (ITALPRESS) – “No, we are not at war. It is true that the European mission Aspides was born and remains a defensive mission, which only wants to guarantee the passage of the merchants who transit from the Red Sea and from Bab el Mandeb protecting them from any attacks of the Houthi”. The Foreign Minister and Deputy Premier, Antonio Tajani, said this in an interview with Corriere della Sera, after the attack that struck an Italian hunt. “This will continue to face the aggravation of the situation in the strait, urging the European Union to renew it, because we have a strong strategic interest – it has emphasized – 40% of the entire commercial marine traffic of Italy and 6o% of the goods that we export to Asia pass through the Red Sea. For months we have been saying to strengthen Aspides, asking the other States to intervene alongside us. I will do it again next week in New York, in the margin of the General Assembly of the UN.”.
To the question of Corriere della Sera if it can confirm the words of the minister Crosetto regarding the fact that the strengthened Aspides can start also with the only ships our and Greece, but that in this case the expenses must be shared by the European allies, he replied: “Of course, they send other units or they have to take charge of part of the economic cost. Aspides must absolutely continue and be strengthened.”.
Then, on the meetings scheduled for the UN Assembly, Tajani added that “we will make a meeting of the ad hoc Foreign Council. But of Aspides I will also speak in the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the G7 and in that of the Coalition of Rome for food security, a format that we and Croatians launched, which put together Med 9 (the nine Mediterranean countries of the EU) and the nations of the Arab League. We summoned him back to New York, extending the agenda also to freedom and safety of navigation. There are also other meetings, for example with the Balkan friends,” he concluded.
– Photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
