“If we want to guarantee humanity and order at the EU’s external borders, then solidarity and fairness must also apply, mirrored within the EU,” Baerbock told the newspaper “La Stampa” (Monday) before her first visit to Rome this Monday. In view of the negotiations between the USA and Russia on a solution to the conflict with Ukraine, she insisted on European involvement.
Baerbock wanted to meet her counterpart Luigi Di Maio in the Italian capital around noon. Migration policy is also likely to come up here. What should also be exciting about Baerbock’s trip to Rome is what nuances there are in the appearance of the Green politician with Di Maio, who belongs to the populist five-star movement.
Baerbock: No decision on Europe’s security without Europe
Regarding the negotiations with Russia, Baerbock said “La Stampa”: “It is clear that there is no decision on security in Europe without Europe. The only way out of the crisis is through dialogue. ” That is why she is working with the French Foreign Minister to return to talks in Normandy format. Precisely because the situation on the Ukrainian border is worrying, there should be no further military escalation. “The most important guarantee for the security of Ukraine is success at the negotiating table.”
In view of the rising energy and gas prices in Europe and the discussion about the controversial German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, Baerbock emphasized: «Should Russia use energy as a weapon or commit further aggressive actions against Ukraine, we will work together with our European partners to take effective measures. “
This Monday, representatives of the USA and Russia are negotiating in Geneva. In the Normandy format of four, France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine are trying to resolve the conflict that has been going on for almost eight years. Most recently there was a meeting in Normandy format at executive level in 2019 in Paris. The US accuses Russia of building troops in areas on the border with Ukraine. It is feared that Russian soldiers could invade the ex-Soviet republic. Russia denies such plans.
Community of values should lead the way
With regard to migration policy, Baerbock said “La Stampa” that she did not want to accept the fact that people kept dying at Europe’s external borders. From Berlin it is “easy to point a finger at those states that bear the burden of responsibility at the external borders, be it on the land border between Poland and Belarus or for the Mediterranean borders between Italy and Greece”. But if you, as a European, want “our rules and values to apply, we must all be ready to show solidarity and responsibility”.
Baerbock admitted that “every member state still sees the issue too much through its own national glasses”. The necessary counterpart to the free movement of people in the EU, however, is a common migration policy. As long as there is no common position of all 27 EU member states on a distribution mechanism, Germany wants to “lead the way with those who are not only ready to do so, but also live Europe’s understanding as a community of values”. She is glad that we are pulling together with Italy here.
Italy with a significant increase in the number of migrants in 2021
Italy’s Ministry of the Interior saw a significant increase in migrants arriving in boats in the Mediterranean country in 2021. According to statistics, there were just over 67,000 boat migrants in the entire year 2021 as of December 31. In the same period last year, the authorities registered around 34,150 migrants.
In the afternoon, Baerbock wanted to discuss ecological restructuring in Europe with Di Maio in a round table organized by the “Istituto Affari Internazionali” (Institute for International Affairs) think tank. Di Maio has been the Italian Foreign Minister since September 2019.