Roundup: Leaders say Italy, France working on new bilateral treaty

by Stefania Fumo

ROME, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Italy and France are at work on a new bilateral treaty that will give a fresh impulse to the European Union as a whole, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni announced at a joint press conference here Thursday.

The new accord, to be named the Quirinal Treaty after the Quirinal Palace where Italy's president lives and works, will lead to a stronger, more united EU -- the only antidote to nationalism and populism, the two leaders said.

They announced that a high-level working group has been set up to draft the treaty covering industrial, trade, and cultural relations."We had 80 billion euros (96.3 billion U.S. dollars) worth of trade with France this year and we are each other's second-largest trading partner," Gentiloni pointed out during their hour-long televised press conference.

The new treaty will be "a creative contribution" to the EU, which has returned to growth after a decade-long downturn and where the "positive macroeconomic numbers must translate into jobs and well-being," the center-left Italian leader said.

The treaty aims at building "a more sovereign, democratic and united Europe," Macron echoed.

Both leaders stressed that the EU must complete its economic and banking union and come up with common defense, security, and migration policies.

"The EU has a fundamental role to play in the world at large -- in fighting climate change, in combating terrorism, and in the defense of liberties," Gentiloni said. "I think the only thing we cannot tell European citizens is that the migration crisis will be over any time soon," he added.

It may take years for the situation to calm down, Gentiloni said. People will continue to abandon their homelands in search of better lives as long as drastic economic inequalities exist between the two continents. This is why long-term investments in Africa are key, the Italian leader said.

Meanwhile, "we must transform the migration from Africa from a completely illegal phenomenon run by criminal organizations into a flow to be managed in an organized, legal, and humane way," he said.

Macron backed him up, calling for common EU regulations on asylum, reception, repatriations as well as common border defense. "We must stabilize a critical situation -- one that far from being left behind, is likely to continue," the French leader said.

He said France faced a "record" 100,000 asylum requests last year, and that while the right to asylum is enshrined in the French constitution, it is a "conditional" right.

Claims must be processed much faster and those who are rejected must be swiftly repatriated, Macron said, adding that on the external front, the priorities are stabilizing Libya and fighting the traffickers, who deal not only in migrants but also in arms and drugs. Enditem