Former Italian government official Michele Geraci was at the Italian Parliament yesterday as Finance Minister Giancarlo Georgetti reported on the EU-U.S. deal. On the sidelines of the debate, he was interviewed by Radio Radicale. “The EU behaved badly,” Geraci said, but this is “because the structure of the EU does not allow for much more.” The EU has competences for goods coming to Europe, but not for goods from Europe to other countries. “The problem is that France sells some kinds of products, Germany different ones, Spain also different, Italy different. Therefore, it gets very difficult for [EU Commission President Ursula] von der Leyen (who is not the top choice) because she is supposed to negotiate on a mix of products that EU countries export to the U.S.A. For instance, what should she do? Should she negotiate on cars sold by Germany, or on fashion products sold by Italy and France? And Trump asks: so, what do you want? It is quite complicated ... von der Leyen cannot negotiate in the interest of all EU producers, because they are different, they have different quality and mix of products.
“And this is a problem of the European Union: whereas they say unity is strength, unity is not strength, unity is weakness! Let us take a step back. What Italy must do—and I am convinced of it: Italy must negotiate bilaterally. Exactly where the EU is not succeeding, institutionally, in negotiating on behalf of single countries, our PM and Foreign and Trade Ministers must step in and go to Washington, to negotiate exemptions for our products.”
Is this bilateral negotiation allowed by EU Treaties?
