Minister José Manuel García-Margallo meets with Italian counterpart, Paolo Gentiloni

Minister García-Margallo took the opportunity to reiterate in person the support of the people and Government of Spain following the terrible earthquake on 23 August that affected the regions of Lazio and Umbria, leaving several hundred people dead (including one Spanish citizen), many others injured and significant material damage.

Minister García-Margallo and his Italian counterpart also reviewed the excellent bilateral relations, both at a political and an economic level, and exchanged points of view on European and global issues, the broad strokes of which they clearly agreed on in their analysis of both the situation in Europe following the referendum in the UK and the future of the EU. In particular, they agreed on the need to reaffirm the commitment to the process of European integration as the only effective solution for tackling the demands of European citizens and for finding solutions to their problems in an increasingly globalised world.

The traditional convergence in other areas on which the two countries are working together was also patently clear, in particular the situation in Libya. Finally, they tackled other areas on the international stage, such as the situation in Ibero-America.