Former Minister Pinotti: “Military in Ukraine? The government’s caution is good”

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“While on the one hand I understand and approve of President Macron’s activism, on the other I see a modus operandi that does not favor the image of a Europe that moves in a cohesive way. Because if you act on behalf of Europe you have to consult it, you have to have received a mandate. For this reason I think the government’s caution is understandable. I would not have responded differently”. As a former Minister of Defense, Roberta Pinotti considers the government’s attitude correct, which, regarding the French proposal to send European military contingents to Ukraine for a peacekeeping mission linked to the peace agreements, has asked that the initiative be included under a UN mission. Without rushing ahead. “ We have not yet reached a peace agreement”, analyzes Pinotti, minister during the Renzi and Gentiloni governments, today without a leadership role but still a member of the Democratic Party. “Peace at this moment is only announced. So I understand that Salvini, pro-Putin and close to Trump, says no mainly for instrumental purposes to differentiate himself from his majority. But the government is right to argue that before deciding, it is necessary to understand specifically, in detail, what operation it is . Knowing that if in the Unifil mission, which controls a very small strip of land like the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon, little more than 10 thousand soldiers are employed, in Ukraine there could be many more, and with very specific rules of engagement. If I were a minister, I would ask precisely in what overall framework the operation fits. Adding that missions are not decided before the conditions are there to deploy them”.

According to Pinotti, “the sudden change of phase caused by the Trump administration is leading to the need to develop rapid responses. The Paris summit called by Macron was a sign of readiness. But on the chosen format, I must say that little was understood. What I hope is that, even if we have to act quickly, there is a common direction and strategy. Otherwise, the entropy of chaos reigns”. Undoubtedly favored by a president like the American one who on the Ukrainian dossier has shown that he wants to operate a strong discontinuity with his predecessor. Does Meloni, who claims a privileged relationship with him, risk being crushed, forced into embarrassing silences after the attacks on Zelensky? “Even though she reaffirmed her positions in a much less determined way at the conservative convention , it must be said that in the past the prime minister has always been very strongly pro-Ukraine and pro-Zelensky. I don't think she has changed sides”, analyzes Pinotti. “ More than anything, what I hope is that, while understanding the need to work so that Atlantic ties do not fray, the government keeps its back straight in the face of Trump. Saying that Zelensky is a dictator means reversing reality. And in keeping its back straight, we must do everything to ensure that Europe is not left out of the negotiations, pursuing the objective of reaching a just peace .”

Precisely on the support for Ukraine, the last few days have not offered a great sign of unity in the Italian opposition. With the PD forced to interface with the M5s leader Conte who seems more Trumpian than Trump. “ I say that foreign policy is always fundamental to governing a country. In the Union program there was a very ambiguous reference to the war in Afghanistan. And so every time the topic was discussed there were continuous fibrillations for the second Prodi government. For this reason I believe that the political synthesis between different forces that want to try to build a common path cannot contemplate ambiguity”. Does this mean that Secretary Schlein should have harped more insistently on this issue? “But I have never heard her say anything different than the need to reach a just peace. Simply, I believe she avoided responding to Conte's provocations. And in this I believe she did very well. Not failing in one of the salient points of the history of the PD ”. Staying on European defense, how do you judge the separation of military spending from the Stability Pact under discussion in Brussels? “When I was a minister with the then Foreign Minister Gentiloni we proposed something similar for national spending on EU defense projects,” Pinotti replies. “I am in favor of any form of common defense debt. The point is not to have these resources go to finance, for example, the American defense industry, as is happening now. The construction of an industrial and technological component of the European defense industry is fundamental, as Draghi also asks.”

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