“About Italy I want to say that I believe that President Draghi is a great politician, he does and has done an extraordinary job for Italy. The work of his government is very good for his country”, the German Chancellor said today in Berlin. Olaf Scholz, speaking during a press conference with the German media.
Scholz also discussed something else. For example, he said he was against the proposal to ban Russian citizens from entering the EU as a further sanction against Moscow for the war in Ukraine. “This is Putin’s war”, he declared, “and that’s why I don’t agree with the idea”. The chancellor added that the punitive measures must be directed against the people who make decisions in Russia not against all Russians. At the moment, Estonia has announced, starting from 18 August, the closure of the borders to Russians in possession of Schengen visas issued by Tallin.
The continuation of the war in Ukraine requires that “we take far-reaching decisions to support its struggle for independence,” Scholz continued, reaffirming military and financial support for Kiev. The German government “by breaking with its previous policy, is supplying many weapons, long-range and very powerful, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.” “We support Ukraine financially – continued the chancellor – and we are ready for the fact that the impact of this war affects the whole world, and Europe and our country”. Asked whether he would welcome a commitment by former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder – heavily criticized for his excessive proximity to Vladimir Putin – as a mediator with Russia, Scholz then answered ambiguously: “I don’t know”.
Still on Ukraine, the German Chancellor today lamented the lack of a gas pipeline connecting Portugal with central Europe via France, believing that this is a serious shortage in the context of the energy crisis following the war in Ukraine. “I was very interested in a gas pipeline that unfortunately we are missing dramatically today – the pipeline that should have been built between Portugal, Spain through France and central Europe”.
This gas pipeline – he explained – “would contribute today in a massive way to alleviate and relax the supply situation”. Scholz did not provide further details on the pipeline in question but such a project, called MidCat, was launched in 2013 between Catalonia and south-eastern France and was then abandoned in 2019 due to lack of agreement on its financing and real support. from France, not convinced of its usefulness.