Italian Minister Predicts Economic Cold War Between UK and EU

Italy’s deputy foreign minister Mario Giro believes there will be an ‘economic cold war’ between the United Kingdom and the European Union over Brexit, with consequences that would affect the entire Western world. The conditions within the EU are tense, following a conflict of interests regarding the British referendum, with some countries happy to see the UK leave. “When we are among the 27 [countries within the EU, not including the UK], the hardliners are more numerous than it appears. I cannot quote a country in particular at the moment. We will see it at the beginning of the negotiation,” Giro said to the Guardian.

“We are hearing more and more that there are people – economic interests – who are thinking they can inherit some economic position, thinking that they can take away from the UK some of the position of the City of London. Not Italy, of course, because we are not in that position. And this will be an economic war. Let’s say an economic cold war, and we are not in favour of it.” British Prime Minister May had warned earlier in the month that the country was heading towards a hard Brexit, if it was unable to enter a favourable agreement with the bloc. May added that the UK was prepared to fight for its position, if it sensed antagonism from other countries in the region and is prepared to radically reduce taxes. “This will be a disgrace. To enter into a new era of hard competition on big money questions involving companies, this is very bad for the western world. We don’t need these kinds of tensions at this time of a geopolitical Jurassic Park,” Giro added.