Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Friday that he would prefer to see Russia be part of the European Union instead of Turkey, which has been trying to get membership in the bloc for years
ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2019) Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Friday that he would prefer to see Russia be part of the European Union instead of Turkey, which has been trying to get membership in the bloc for years."To be honest, instead of offering Turkey [European Union membership], I would prefer to see Russia in Europe's ranks," Salvini said.
Salvini said that he believed Russia to be much closer to Europe in terms of culture.
"I think, Russia is much closer to our history, our culture, our economy, our traditions, than Turkey," he stressed.
Additionally, when asked about his position on sanctions against Russia, Salvini said he saw them as counterproductive to solving Europe's regional problems.
"My position has always been clear sanctions against Russia are futile, if not detrimental to Italy's economy and to solving problems that exist on the European continent," Salvini said, adding that despite various media outlets consistently trying to find evidence that he was paid by the Russian state to express these attitudes, his opinions on the matter were completely his own.
Salvini has been a long-time critic of Turkish efforts to join the European Union, saying earlier this month that the accession process should be canceled and definitively stopped. He has also been an outspoken opponent of the sanctions-countersanctions war between Europe and Russia that began in 2014, calling them a form of "madness" which has cost Italian businesses billions of Euros in revenue.
