US President Donald Trump has complete distrust towards Europe. However, for Europe, building relations with the United States is considered a natural phenomenon — as noted by Romano Prodi, the President of Fund for International Co-operation, the President of the European Commission in 1999-2004 and the Prime Minister of Italy (1996-1998, 2006-2008), at the 18th Verona Eurasian Economic Forum
“Ignoring Europe is a big mistake by the United States,” Mr. Prodi emphasised.
Reflecting on what happened to the European Union, which has been making decisions over the past five years that are counterproductive for the whole of Europe, the former President of the European Commission stated, “The enlargement of the European Union has resulted in paralysis. The EU now consists of 27 countries, yet we observe a stagnation in the progress of key European institutions: the European Parliament and the European Commission. It is essential to reform the EU’s decision-making process: currently, this poses a significant problem because, due to the requirement for unanimous decisions, we are unable to resolve even minor issues, let alone major ones... I was deeply disappointed that the European Union did not take action or intervene in the peace process in Ukraine, despite having all the necessary tools. However, the principle of unanimous decision-making prevented this from happening.”
Mr. Prodi emphasised that this is a crucial topic to address today, considering the differences between states, regions and continents: our planet can only exist and develop peacefully if the disparities between all countries are acknowledged and respected.
