Tajani to report to parliament on Italy's Board of Peace involvement

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 16 - Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani is set to report to parliament on Tuesday after Premier Giorgia Meloni announced at the weekend that Italy would be involved in US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace as an observer ahead of a meeting in Washington on Thursday. Last month Meloni had said Italy was interested in being part of the board but was unable to join at the moment because it has aspects that conflict with the Italian Constitution, adding that she had asked Trump to change its "configuration" to make it easier for Italy and other countries to sign up for it. She announced that Italy would be involved as an observer on Saturday while she was in Addis Ababa for the second Italy-Africa Summit. "In our opinion, it's a good solution to the obvious problem we face regarding the constitutional compatibility of joining the Board of Peace," Meloni, who has friendly relations with Trump and was the only European leader invited to his inauguration last year, said about Italy being a observer to the new body. "I've always said that, with all the work Italy has done, is doing, and must do in the Middle East to stabilize a very complex, fragile situation, an Italian presence, and also a European presence, is necessary. "So I think we will respond positively to this invitation to participate as an observer country. "We're yet to see to what extent, because the invitation arrived yesterday". Italy's opposition parties have blasted Italy's announced participation in the board. "I wonder how far Meloni wants to humiliate this country's diplomatic tradition so as to avoiding displeasing Trump," Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein said. "What she is doing circumvents the Constitution, which states that Italy cannot participate in supranational bodies that do not have equal conditions (for all participants)". Former industry minister Carlo Calenda, the leader of the centrist Azione party, described the Board of Peace as a "gang of dictators, businessmen and profiteers, led for life by Trump and entrusted to (Jared) Kushner, who has presented a delusional Palm Beach-style real estate development project, on the rubble of Gaza". (ANSA). Read article...

By ANSA

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