ROME, July 10. /TASS/. The European Union must immediately appoint a special representative for negotiations with Russia instead of continuing a mad arms race, Former Italian Prime Minister, the leader of the Five Star Movement Giuseppe Conte, has stated.

"First of all, we must not waste time on appointing - two months have already passed, and we still do not know a single name - a European representative for negotiations with Russia, because diplomacy costs nothing, and history teaches us that it is much more effective than rearmament in ensuring a future full of peace and real security," he wrote on social media X. The former Italian prime minister also called for abandoning the artificially inflated anti-Russian hysteria that destroys the economies of EU countries in favor of the Western military-industrial lobby. He named rising energy prices, which are driving companies to bankruptcy, as well as the situation in the social sphere, as the true problems for citizens.

Conte has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the plan for the rearmament of Europe will only contribute to increased instability. Conte stated that there are no suitable conditions for Ukraine's accession to the EU and also opposed sending weapons to Kiev.

At the EU summit on June 18-19, the EU countries did not agree on either a candidate for a negotiator with Russia or the content of possible negotiations. Having failed this discussion at the summit, they declared that the time for negotiations had not come and that the European Union would never be a mediator but would only act on Ukraine's side.

Russian leadership has repeatedly pointed out that Russia is open to negotiations with the EU, but Europe cannot be a mediator because, by supplying weapons to Ukraine, it is a party to the conflict.