Milan, 27 August (LaPresse) – Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister and former President of the European Commission, in an interview with the daily newspaper La Repubblica, raises the alarm, expressing concern about what he sees as a growing trend towards ‘agreement between authoritarian regimes’ that ‘continues day after day’. ‘Putin and Trump, step by step, are concluding an agreement that no one in the world can oppose,’ he said. "Think of Ukraine: one day Trump mocks Zelensky and the next day he embraces him, then mocks him again and then embraces him again. It weakens him. The ultimate goal is always agreement between authoritarian regimes. And we Europeans are playing along,‘ says Prodi, adding that ’it has been humiliating‘ and that ’slowly but surely we are witnessing the collapse of democracies, while the rapprochement of the great powers is leading to trilateralism between China, the United States and Russia. Which is then a trilateralism that boils down to bipolarism because the China-Russia relationship cannot be broken." Prodi says that a democratic regression in the US ‘is already underway’ and ‘whether or not it will be completed will depend on the democratic opposition and the mid-term elections, if they come in time,’ adding that the risk is also present in Italy "and is growing with the strategy of never being able to afford to wrong the United States. Absolution from every sin comes from God's judgement, which is given by Trump.‘ When asked what the centre-left in Italy should do to stop this drift, Prodi replied: ’Exist. That would be enough.‘ ’It could exist because discontent with the government is growing. But without an opposition, the government can do anything and always wins. Uncertainty drives voters away,‘ he added. The former prime minister speaks of the ’decline of the West‘ and the lack of European leadership, with Ursula von der Leyen ’forced into the role of a barometric leader, like a “cuckoo” that ticks away the time according to changes in pressure".
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