Automaker Stellantis said on Tuesday it welcomed the European Commission's announcement that it would propose a softening of the bloc's carbon emission targets for cars.

Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Wednesday said he had welcomed with favour European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's announcement of a plan to 'rearm Europe' which was however not an alternative to NATO.

“We have seen with favor the decision of the commission's president [Ursula] von der Leyen toward European defense, which is not an alternative choice to NATO,” Antonio Tajani said at an event on the reconstruction of Ukraine at the headquarters of Lombardy's regional government in Milan.