“We had good talks on Syria here in Lucca. None of the G7 countries want military escalation, but rather a political settlement without a further spiral of violence. We want to persuade Russia to support the political process for a peaceful solution to the Syria conflict.

This is also the express stance of the US Secretary of State, who has our full support for his talks in Moscow on Wednesday.

I welcome this very clear position by the United States, which sent the Assad regime a clear message with its military attack, but does not want escalation, but rather to work with Russia.

We need to get the Vienna process off the ground again as soon as possible. We should meet soon at foreign minister level in the International Syria Support Group. We have to time to lose.

Not everyone may like this, but without Moscow and Tehran there will be no solution for Syria. This is why exclusion is definitely not the way forward. I think it is right to attempt inclusion once more. I do not like to imagine that Russia will remain loyal indefinitely to such a brutal regime as Assad’s, which knows no bounds whatsoever.”