Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) highlighted Italy's role as Berlin's partner in Europe during her inaugural visit to Rome on Monday.

"In Rome we have like-minded people and allies who, together with us, take on responsibility in Europe," said the minister after the meeting with her Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio, who belongs to the left-wing populist five-star movement.

Matthias Rüb

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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Like Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) during his inaugural visit shortly before Christmas, Baerbock also recognized the Italian government for its “very successful vaccination campaign”, which Germany could learn from. However, because the number of infections has risen sharply for about two weeks, the Robert Koch Institute has declared Italy a high-risk area on New Year's. Although 89.4 percent of the population over the age of twelve have been vaccinated at least once in Italy, around 200,000 new infections were recently registered every day. According to the authorities, the seven-day incidence nationwide was 1,669 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. On Saturday, the physicist Giorgio Sestili, who specializes in the analysis of corona data, predicted that the number of confirmed new infections this week would exceed 400 per day.Could reach 000. Foreign Minister Di Maio was also recently infected with Corona despite a double vaccination and was only able to leave the domestic isolation a few days before Baerbock's visit. On Friday, compulsory vaccination for all people over 50 years of age came into force in Italy, and on Monday a de facto lockdown was imposed for all unvaccinated people.

Baerbock: Don't accept dying in the Mediterranean

After her conversation with Di Maio, Baerbock reiterated her support for mandatory vaccination in Germany: "I believe that mandatory vaccination makes sense." You personally and your party have made this clear several times.

It is about living life again as people were used to and about protecting people.

After meeting Di Maio, Baerbock visited a vaccination center in Rome.

The Italian Foreign Minister thanked Baerbock for this gesture.

In Rome, efforts were also made to defuse the crisis on the Ukrainian border, as well as to transform the economy into a climate-neutral way and to create a humane European asylum system. “The most important lever that we Europeans have is our unity,” said Baerbock with a view to the Ukraine crisis. At the end of this week, the topic will be the focus of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, said Baerbock. It is clear that "the only way out of the crisis is through dialogue" and that "a renewed violation of Ukrainian sovereignty by Russia would have serious consequences". Baerbock expressed his shock at developments in Kazakhstan. The Foreign Minister emphasized that it could not be in the European interest towhen "Central Asian states become unilateral dependence on Russia or China".

Baerbock reiterated the demand for a fair European distribution mechanism for migrants and assured Berlin's solidarity for countries like Italy on the EU's external border.

Germany and Italy are “on the same side when it comes to questions of flight and migration, namely in the understanding that humanity and orderly structures are needed at the external borders”.

Turning to Di Maio, she added: “Neither of us are ready to come to terms with dying in the Mediterranean.” With a view to the so-called action plan between Germany and Italy, Di Maio said they wanted to reach a bilateral summit in the middle of this year to do this Document to sign.