The cooperation and historic ties between Italy and Germany are rock solid and "cannot be diminished or obscured" by a change of government, president Sergio Mattarella said on Friday.
"Regarding relations between Germany and Italy, nothing has altered with the change of governments," Mattarella said after talks in Berlin with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a state visit.
"This is not only because the relationship between Germany and Italy is historically so solid that it is not susceptible to being diminished or obscured... the facts prove it," said Mattarella.
Mattarella recalled the joint action pact Italy and Germany signed last November to strengthen cooperation foreign and defence policy, economy, the EU, climate, the environment and culture.
Mattarella also referenced phone talks on Thursday between Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italy's premier Giorgia Meloni which centred on Ukraine, migration: a key topic on which the two leaders agreed to keep in close contact in the run-up to the European Union leaders' summit in mid-October.
"So there is are fully cooperative and developing relations," Mattarella underlined.
A co-founder of the bloc and one of its largest economies, Italy is one of Germany's most important European Union partners, Steinmeier stated.
"Cooperation extends to civil society, institutions and above all to individuals," he said.
Steinmeier expressed thanks for "the intense friendship that binds or two countries. Italy has "profoundly influenced" Germany, he said, citing the fields of architecture, philosophy, design, literature and gastronomy.
"This friends Steinmeier said.
