"The UK is out of the EU, not Europe, and they are very clear about that. I think there is a fundamental difference in perception. Across the Channel, Brexit is a fait accompli that belongs to the past, even if the new government has understood that there are a whole series of elements to be fine-tuned. We, on the other hand, are questioning this traumatic divorce'. The Italian ambassador to London Inigo Lambertini told ANSA on the sidelines of the Ambassadors' Conference at the Farnesina, stressing that in any case the "prospects" for bilateral relations between Rome and London "are very good".
The ambassador explained that the "cooperation between governments is unparalleled" and recalled that "18 ministers of the new Starmer government have come to Italy since July and the prime minister came to Rome in September in bilateral talks with Meloni. This is the third country that Starmer has chosen to visit, and the first two today - Germany and France - have no government,' he stressed.
As for the Italian community in the UK, 'it continues to grow, we are the third largest in the EU after Poland and Romania'. The difference from the past is that 'there are no more Italian waiters, but many more doctors, engineers and architects, because above all London offers job opportunities that are still extremely competitive,' the ambassador added.
As for the UK's future projection, Lambertini estimated in conclusion, "we will have to understand in the years to come where it really wants to position itself, especially in anticipation of changes of administration on the other side of the ocean".
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