There can be no just peace without guarantees for the security of Ukraine, said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after a meeting in Rome with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristershon, ANSA reported, quoted by BTA.
"Efforts are needed to lay the foundations for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, and such a peace can only come if Kiev is given adequate security guarantees to ensure that something like this (a new Russian invasion - ed. note) will not happen again“, Meloni said.
“I have always said and I believe that these security guarantees must be implemented in the context of the Atlantic Alliance, because I think this is the best framework for guaranteeing peace, which is neither fragile nor temporary, so that there is no more risk of Europe finding itself again in the drama of war. “Other solutions, as I have already said, seem to me more complex and, frankly, less effective“, Meloni added.
She also said that together with Kristersson they supported the idea of removing defense spending from the Stability Pact and that more steps were needed to strengthen Europe's defense spending.
“We need to spend more, but we also need investment“, the two leaders said. “The choice of EC President Ursula von der Leyen to exclude defense spending from the Stability Pact is a first step and I believe that other solutions should follow“, Meloni said.