Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto met President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Marcos Perestrello and a delegation of the Assembly, including President of the Italian Delegation, the Hon. Lorenzo Cesa.

"We live in difficult times. Today, in an increasingly complex international context, the Atlantic Alliance faces day by day external influences aimed to undermine its solidity and cohesion. Within this context, recognizing the valuable job done by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is of fundamental importance: its contribution in keeping an open dialogue between Parliaments, strengthening the tie between security and democracy and promoting transparency and accountability is an added value for the Alliance.This is exactly why the recent appointment of Benedetta Berti to the post of Secretary General of the Assembly is a great satisfaction for Italy: a very high profile position, with a strategic value based on vision and competence. 

Today our priorities are cohesion among Allies, keeping  national Parliaments  strongly involved, and information sharing and protection. It is therefore fundamental to defend ourselves from the influence of external actors, who aim to falsify or manipulate information to influence the public opinion, political decisions or democratic processes in target countries. This is one of the reasons why we have deepened the possible establishment of an operations centre for the protection of democratic institutions from disinformation and fake news.

Looking forward, it will be essential to strengthen dialogue and collaboration with the new global powers. Regarding security and defence, Europe is meaningful only if seen as a continent, looking beyond the 27 Member Countries of the EU. With this in mind, we must reflect on expanding the EU taking into consideration current problems,  beaurocratic provisions and the need to speed them up. Defending Europe means we must use a 360 degree perspective: looking not only to the East, but also to the Southern Flank, i.e. the focus of hybrid threats and global strategic interests. Security is indivisible. Stability is the only way to a safe and secure Europe" declared the Minister Guido Crosetto.