THE ROLE OF ITALY AS THE MEDIATOR IN THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

Italy is one of the founding nations of the EU, as well as one of its most influential economies, yet the Italian economic situation in the EU and the European itself is far from being stable. Moreover, the relations between Russia and EU are getting worse year by year. The paper describes the position of Italian government in Europe, highlights the relationship with Russia, and considers the role of Italian government as the mediator between Russia and the EU. If the Italian GDP is the third one in Europe, there is also a public debt close to 135% and, combined with the fact that more money is paid into the EU coffers than received, and that there is a strong lack of European sentiment. Due to this fact, it is difficult to speak about the united EU. This leads to anti-European protest movements in many parts of Italy. Following the 2019 European elections and the subsequent world health crisis, it has become increasingly clear that there is strong confusion about the role of Italy in Europe. The purpose of this work is to analyze the Italian economic-political situation in relations to the EU and discuss the Italian-Russian relations in the context the EU policy.