Milan, 9 Mar (LaPresse) – European rearmament ‘is a step towards a common defence. So I hope, so I hope and so I see’. Thus Romano Prodi, former prime minister and former president of the EU Commission, guest of Fabio Fazio at Che tempo che fa, on Nove. ‘I have been preaching common defence for years, but nationalisms, one has nuclear weapons and the other does not, one has certain political positions and the other does not, one has former colonies to which he refers and the others do not. Rearmament is a step in this direction. Why is it necessary to go in this direction? When the war in Ukraine started, the first thing I thought about was: ‘if we had the European army, it would not attack Ukraine at all’. Instead it did because it thought we were divided, then we were united by the Americans', now ’we have to make the European army now. We start with the armament, well let's do this in the meantime. Of course we must then go ahead,' Prodi said. And again: ‘We must immediately put in place a common army, with a common command, which coordinates everything. The needs lead us to this. Whether this will be a Nato force, or whether it will be outside Nato, circumstances will show. In the meantime, however, we are starting to get together'.