Ukraine, Italian MEPs insist on a search for peace. Time for more diplomacy

Brussels – Undoubtedly, support for Ukraine with no ifs, but — with some ‘buts,’ and in particular that peace talks bring to the end of a conflict increasingly animating the Italian delegations in the European Parliament. It must be clear, and various Italian party representatives at the press briefing ahead of the plenary session in Parliament that will address the Ukraine issue reiterated that there is no doubt that Kyiv has the right to defend itself, and EU support is not in doubt. However, the need to push for diplomacy is emerging across the board.

The MEP who emphasizes the issue most urgently is Ignazio Marino (Greens-AVS), who looks with some apprehension at the immediate future. US elections are in 42 days, and the Republican candidate “Donald Trump said that if he wins, he will not wait for the inauguration to go to Putin and negotiate peace on the terms that best serve the interests of the United States,” he said. Here, in light of these premises, “instead of pushing for more weapons, we should act before others,” given that, he insists, “if I remember correctly, Ukraine is in Europe.”

A new concern is starting to emerge of a secondary and subordinate role in foreign policy. It is not sure that the successor to Joe Biden in the White House will be Trump. Nonetheless, there is a sense of the need to accompany Ukraine’s economic and armed support to dialogue that, up until now, has been kept to the minimum. Salvatore De Meo, head of Forza Italia’s delegation, summarized the need for this dual course of action: “Regarding Ukraine, we cannot but continue to strengthen Europe’s closeness, insisting on creating the conditions for a glimmer of peace.”

The PD expressed a similar line and position through Annalisa Corrado. “The support for Ukraine remains necessary,” but at the same time, she adds, there needs to be a “strengthening of all diplomatic tools” because what worries part of the socialists is the risk of “an escalation that then becomes difficult to manage.”

Parties from the majority and opposition parties describe some convergence on the issue, as shown by Stefano Cavedagna (ECR), part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party. According to the Fratelli d’Italia MEP, the principle remains firm that “Ukraine has the right to defend itself. There is a victim and an aggressor,” with FdI “supporting” Kyiv. However, at the same time, even within Fratelli d’Italia, there is the idea that “the goal must be peace.”

The League also speaks of the need to “create the prospects for peace” in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, said Anna Maria Cisint. The Carroccio MEP stresses how her party and group “has never shied away from voting to support Ukraine,” but “we have never made a secret of the need to accompany aid with strong diplomatic action” because “a peace table is necessary.”

Therefore, the EU has to refocus, but this is far from a given. Gaetano Pedullà (M5S-the Left) explains why. “If we want peace, we have to change the narrative and stop doing what we’ve been doing for the last two and a half years, which is to go ahead with sanctions and arms supplies.” According to the M5S MEP, there are no alternatives. “Without dialogue, there can be no peace,” but to have dialogue, one must have the conditions to facilitate it. So, it is necessary to “reason with Russia before the United States does.”

A general need for an unarmed solution to the conflict is spreading among the ranks of Italian MEPs at the European Parliament, reflecting the impatience, not only Italian, produced by an ongoing conflict that is against the EU’s interests. On one thing, all Italian delegations seem to have no doubts: the weapons supplied by Italy to Ukraine must be used only for defense and not offense: a concept expressed and reiterated by all.