(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 31 - Foreign Minister and Deputy Premier Antonio Tajani said Friday that the Franco-German alliance must not be the sole driving force of the European Union and called on Italy and Spain to assert a greater role for the Mediterranean within the bloc. "Spain and Italy can do even more for a greater Mediterranean presence within the European Union," Tajani told the 19th Italy-Spain Dialogue Forum in Rome. "Europe must not be driven only by the Franco-German alliance. "It is right for Europe to be more balanced," added Tajani, the national coordinator of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and the former president of the European Parliament. "There mustn't only be an East-West Europe, but also a North-South one.

"Italy and Spain have the political job of giving greater weight to some problems that are more sensitive to us". (ANSA).