Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Tuesday hailed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s announcement of a plan to ‘rearm Europe’ in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine that she said could mobilise close to 800 billion euros.

Writing on X, Tajani, who is also deputy premier, said that now the plan must be implemented.

“Good von der Leyen: finally, concrete steps forward are being taken to build an indispensable European defense.

“It was the great dream of De Gasperi and Berlusconi.

“Now it must be realized, without delay, in the best possible way to make Europe stronger in the context of a solid alliance with the United States”.