Have been meaning to share this very interesting interview of Italian Ambassador Armando Varricchio by the Dallas Morning News editorial board. Ambassador Varricchio addressed some of the most important issues facing Italy and Europe and the status of our trans-Atlantic relations.
“We are working to increase the level of European identity, and some communities are heading in the opposite direction. National leaders often scapegoat Brussels, allowing the EU to make decisions that we’re not ready to make on a national level. This has gone too far, though. Now there is a need to rebuild unity. No single European country has the size, the power, the economic dimension to overcome on its own any major challenge we have, no single country. The only to respond to these challenges is to integrate ourselves.”
“From a bilateral point of view, we couldn’t be happier. Our prime minister visited President Trump two weeks after inauguration day and Italy was the first country in Europe visited by president Trump. We do think that there is a need for this administration to have a greater sense of the importance of Trans-Atlantic relations because this goes to the benefit of the two shores.”
READ ENTIRE INTERVIEW: The U.S. is strong because of global alliances unprecedented in history; the EU should follow