Good afternoon everyone. I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, my friend Petr Fiala, in Rome today. This visit comes just a few months after the one by the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, and exactly one year on from my visit to Prague in May last year. This is all a testament to the very strong friendship between our two nations. 

As we discussed during our bilateral, we are very satisfied with the status of our relations, which are excellent. Our economic and trade relations have significantly intensified as has our political dialogue, also within the European Council, on the main issues on the European and international agenda.
Our trade volumes exceeded EUR 17 billion in 2023. There are currently more than 3,000 Italian companies in the Czech Republic, also testifying to our strong ties. Among our very many areas of cooperation, I would like to mention the aerospace sector in particular, in which Italy has a long-standing tradition and where Prime Minister Fiala and I agree there is considerable potential to enhance our cooperation.
Then there are also the fields of infrastructure, transport, energy, defence and security, and tourism. We also discussed in view of the new European legislature, talking a lot about the issues at the heart of the next legislative term, and there is a lot of common ground with regard to our priorities. We agree on the need for the European Union, as it will emerge from the June elections, to focus on a number of concrete and strategic priorities in the current, complex context.

There is certainly the issue of boosting competitiveness and economic security, which is not only an economic but also a geopolitical necessity today. To do this, there clearly needs to be a coherent industrial policy backed by concrete financial support. We need to invest in our future, and we must do so together. In the current international context, the need for Europe to finally become a geopolitical giant also goes hand-in-hand with the need for a European defence industry that is able to meet the demands and requirements of such a complex international system. Prime Minister Fiala and I fully agree on this point too, and the Czech Republic is also pursuing what are certainly very important initiatives in this regard. 

We also discussed migration, which is another issue on which we have always found ourselves in agreement. We agree on the fact that, in order to manage migration, working on the external dimension is the priority, which means working with third countries, working with our partners to prevent flows rather than having to manage them. As you know, Italy is setting a good example with the ‘Mattei Plan for Africa’, which aims to build a new development and cooperation model compared with the past, with an equal and non-paternalistic approach that is not based on charity and does not have predatory intentions. We also agree that we need to keep working to move forward with the European Union enlargement process, and Italy and the Czech Republic have always seen eye-to-eye on this; as you know, I like to call this process the ‘reunification of Europe’, and we have always found ourselves working together with regard to both the Western Balkans and Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

So, I believe these are our major challenges, particularly for the next European legislative term. To do all this, it will be crucial to make Europe an increasingly important and influential player.
As I was saying, it is important that we have a strategy and that strategy needs to be supported by concrete instruments, starting with the necessary resources, because no single Member State can address the major challenges we are facing alone, and Europe can only do so if it adopts the strategy and tools that are necessary.

We of course also discussed, and I shall come to a close, the major challenges at the top of the international agenda, starting with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the Middle East issue; these are also issues we will be making key priorities of our G7 Presidency. We have reaffirmed our common commitment to strengthening Ukraine’s legitimate defence capacity as this is an essential condition to achieve the just peace we all long for.
So, thank you Petr, thank you Prime Minister for what has been an important and valuable opportunity for discussion.

[Courtesy translation]