During his meeting with Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni, her Latvian counterpart Krišjānis Kariņš expressed his gratitude for helping improve Latvia’s security through the expanded NATO battle group’s presence. He also thanked Meloni for continued support for Ukraine.
The two PMs also discussed the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, as well as important EU topics, including migration and reinforcement of Europe’s external borders.
Mentioning the commitment announced on Monday, the 10th of July, between Canada and Latvia to expand NATO’s battle group in Latvia to the level of a brigade, the PM said Italy will play a major role in this as well.
In regards to support for Ukraine, Kariņš said Latvia support and will keep supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary.
“The strong support for Ukraine from the Italian government outlines the deep understanding that this is about our common values and that aggression does not lead to victory,” said Latvian PM.
During the meeting the two sides also discussed the migration crisis and topics related to EU’s external border.
Kariņš said Latvia and Italy have a similar understanding of these topics, because both are a part of EU’s external border. According to Latvia’s PM, Latvia and Italy face similar challenges, because Latvia is at risk from hybrid attacks organised by Belarus, and Italy faces an influx of illegal migrants from Central Africa.
“First of all, we are united in the belief that we need to continue strengthening NATO and our own security.
Secondly, we have to continue supporting Ukraine for as long as possible, so that the country is able to win in the war against Russia. Thirdly, we have a similar view on migration – Europe needs to determine that, not human traffickers or the Belarusian authoritarian leader,” Kariņš said, concluding the discussion and the topics addressed.
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