Covid, Merkel and Draghi cautious: “Situation improves, but exposed to new variants”

Migrants, Recovery and above all Covid-19. These are the issues at the center of the summit in Berlin between Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Chancellor Angela Merkel. We had a brief preliminary interview with Prime Minister Mario Draghi: we talked above all about Covid-19. We are both cautious, we are obviously happy that there is a substantial improvement in the situation, but we know that this progress is still fragile. vaccines are growing, but we cannot yet say that we are approaching herd immunity “, said the German Chancellor, in a press point on the sidelines of the meeting. In Europe, Merkel continues, “we are exposed to new variants” of the coronavirus and “we have seen how quickly it can happen: even in Portugal we see that they grow”. With Draghi, he continues, “we will talk about the even better coordination of travel arrangements. Also with regard to travel from Great Britain there are many positions, but we need to have a greater exchange”, he says. The topic of migrants is also on the table. “We have close-up views on the external dimension of migration,” explains Merkel. In the European Council to be held next Thursday and Friday in Brussels “we will also talk – continues the chancellor – about the situation in the countries of origin, such as Tunisia and Libya. I thank Italy, which has launched many political initiatives regarding a solution politics in Libya. On Wednesday there will be a conference at the level of foreign ministers on the Berlin process. Italy is a country that has a lot of knowledge and that has also invested a lot of forces in Libyan development. So we thank Italy “, he concludes. DRAGHI – The relationship between Germany and Italy is deep, lasting and solid. The proximity of the views was also seen in the last G7: they are two countries founded on Europeanism and Atlanticism “, underlines the Prime Minister Mario Draghi. The positions of Germany and Italy” towards the USA, Russia, China and also with regard to the states of North Africa – continues Draghi – they are very close. Such close cooperation is not a surprise: Germany is the first country for tourism in Italy; the second most populous Italian community in the world is in Germany, with one million people. “” The two manufacturing industries are the largest in Europe and are highly complementary. There is cooperation in the defense sector, there is cooperation and identity of views regarding the environment, where we could have common projects for hydrogen, and in the climate “, concludes Draghi.