EU unable to defend itself in the face of China: Berlusconi

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 May 2023 19:27
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Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi calls for a "truly united continent."

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gestures as he talks in his video address during a Forza Italia party convention in Milan, Italy, Saturday, May 6, 2023. (AP)

In the event that China decides to attack any EU state - a matter that remains undiscussed by Chinese ministers - the EU would be unable to defend itself, said former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a video interview recorded on Friday with Sky TG24 news channel.

The former PM, in the interview, urged the EU to adopt a “single military policy, with strong cooperation between the armed forces of all European countries,” in order to improve its standing, calling for a "truly united continent."

In order to achieve that, Berlusconi said he favored the bloc dropping "unanimity" in favor of an 80-85% majority. Moreover, the veteran politician also advocated for increased defense spending alongside the establishment of a 300,000-strong “emergency corps".

For Berlusconi, the EU must play a greater role on the global stage, which also meant that the EU must stand up to what he called "Chinese imperialism".

With the current defense strategy, and if China decided to "occupy Italy, and maybe some other European country," Berlusconi said, "we would absolutely not be able to counter it," instead “the best thing we could do would be to go to school to study Chinese.”

It is worth noting that last month, it was reported by Bloomberg, that the current Italian PM Giorgia Meloni considered withdrawing from China’s Belt and Road infrastructure project. The report also noted the lack of consensus on the matter within the current ruling company.

Berlusconi blames Zelensky for war in Ukraine

Berlusconi said, back in February, that Volodymyr Zelensky is responsible for the war in Ukraine.

"All [Zelensky] had to do was stop attacking the two autonomous republics of the Donbass, and this would not have happened," Berlusconi told Italian media on Sunday evening after voting in Lombardy regional elections, which are set to be the first major political test for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing coalition.

“I judge, very, very negatively, the behavior of this gentleman,” Berlusconi added.

He went on to say that if US President Joe Biden threatened to stop sending military and financial aid to Ukraine and asked Zelensky to order a ceasefire in exchange for a "Marshall Plan of six, seven, eight, and nine billion dollars" to rebuild the country, the war could be over.

Berlusconi, who served as prime minister for nearly a decade, is now a senator and the leader of the conservative Forza Italia party, which is a junior partner in the ruling coalition.

The former Prime Minister described Putin as one of his closest friends, and he was one of only a few Western politicians included on the Kremlin's end-of-year greeting list.