Moratinos and D'Alema highlight the common ground in Spain and Italy's objectives in Europe

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Spain and Italy both highlighted the united position held by the two countries in the context of Europe today, once the negotiations for a new Treaty have been completed. Miguel Ángel Moratinos and Máximo D'Alema made the declarations in Toledo during the 8th Spain-Italy Dialogue Forum, an event organised by the CIDOB Foundation and the Agencia di Recerche e Legislazione (AREL), and which brought together 140 leading figures from the world of business, journalism, politics and academia.

The Forum was also attended by Joan Clos, Spain's Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade; Pierluigi Bersani, Italy's Minister for Economic Development; Narcís Serra, President of the CIDOB Foundation; Enrico Letta, Secretary General of AREL; Xavier Vidal-Folch, Deputy Editor of El País and Emiliano García - Page Sánchez, Mayor of Toledo. Moratinos declared that Spain and Italy have enjoyed good relations for a long time, but that “there was a lack of decision and commitment that we have now overcome”. Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation added that “when the Twin Towers fell, Europe should have responded, because that was its duty. But it was unable to, and this is why we need to renew the objectives of both Europe and the United Nations Security Council, which has been obsolete since it was founded”. 

Meanwhile, Joan Clos, Spain's Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade, claimed that Spain and Italy should work together to “speed up the processes of competitiveness in Europe, which have been languishing a little since France’s ‘No’ to the Referendum on the EU Treaty”. Clos, who brought the Forum to a close together with Pierluigi Versan, Italy's Minister for Economic Development, said he hoped that the European Summit at Lisbon would represent a turning point in this respect. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade also stressed that the attention granted to the European Treaty during the Lisbon Summit was something that “was desperately needed”. Clos added that Spain and Italy should take advantage of this situation, and to “stoke up the boiler to make sure that the train reaches a certain speed”. Clos pointed out that it was important to help the countries on the other side of the Mediterranean “using an instrument that we do not yet possess” and he expressed support for the creation of a Mediterranean Bank. Speaking on the same issue, Clos' Italian counterpart, Pierluigi Bersani, also defended this Euro-Mediterranean link and expressed Italy's interest in improving the security of its energy supply through new relations with the energy-supplying countries. The two Industry ministers heard the conclusions on the Forum’s work in the area of business cooperation. Large operations in key sectors were analysed, including energy (Enel's buyout of Endesa), banking (Santander's takeover of Antonveneta), telecommunications (Telefónica's growing influence in Telecom Italia), European policy (of great current interest and with major similarities between Spain and Italy), in addition to the subjects of migrations and spending in the Mediterranean, points where the great similarities of approach between the two countries becomes clearly visible.

 The Spain-Italy Dialogue Forum is an annual meeting that has been held in the two countries since 1999, alternating the venue each year between the two nations. Toledo was the location chosen for the 8th Forum, previous venues having been Genoa, Barcelona, Rome, Valencia, Milan, Jaén-Granada and Verona. The Forum, which every year brings together leading representatives from the world of politics, business and academia, generated specific proposals that will be submitted to the governments of Spain and Italy, on the eve of the Bilateral Spain-Italy Summit, which is programmed to take place in the second half of November 2007. >> See program for the 8th Spain-Italy Forum