ROME, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Italian experts have urged the European Union (EU) as a whole to play its role in a global scenario dominated by major powers, according to a 2018 report by an influential think tank the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI).

Currently in the world, China, Russia, and the United States have different views on development, the environment, and trade, how the EU countries choose their stance on those issues will be a challenge, ISPI Director Paolo Magri told participants at the presentation of the report in Rome Thursday.

OPEN MARKET

For example, China is open to free trade and wants to protect the environment, while the U.S. is raising protectionist barriers and has pulled out of the COP21 global climate change accord, he said. "Clearly Europe is the potential clay pot in the middle of iron pots," said Magri, using an Italian expression to mean fragility in the midst of dominant competitors.

"The EU cannot afford to waste any more time on its usual internal torments -- Brexit, elections, migrants," Magri told the seminar. "Do not ask what the EU can do for you, but what you can do for the EU," Magri said.

Also at the forum was Licia Mattioli, Vice President for Internationalization at Confindustria, the Italian industrialists association. "Italian companies are mostly small and medium businesses," she said, adding that "we industrialists are very worried about the U.S. raising protectionist trade barriers."

This is because the U.S. is Italy's number one export destination outside Europe, accounting for almost half of its overall trade surplus. "When a foreign market opens up to us, Italy can only do more of what it already does best," said Mattioli, adding that foreign investors who come to Italy are "not predators but potential partners who make us stronger."

"For us, open markets are a huge advantage (because) we export much more than we import," she added. Open markets mean more gross domestic product (GDP) points for Italy, Mattioli stressed.

ENERGY NETWORK

Also speaking was Italian energy giant ENEL President Patrizia Grieco, who said the U.S. is returning to fossil fuels and wants to become the number one gas exporter in the world -- a position currently held by Russia, which however, is opening to renewable energy sources (solar, wind, etc).

Europe has very few natural resources and imports about 400 billion euros' (about 493 billion U.S. dollars) worth of oil and gas a year, Grieco said.

However, this has driven the EU to become a leader in technological innovation and investments in renewables, Grieco said. A big advantage of renewable energy sources is that they are equally distributed, since all countries have at least some sun, wind, and water, she said.

"Renewables have become absolutely competitive compared to other energy sources thanks to technological innovation over the past 15 years," Grieco said, adding that renewable energy plants are smaller and provide bigger and faster returns on investment than traditional ones.

Right now each European country generates renewables solely for its own domestic consumption. But this energy can be transported between countries if an advanced digital network is in place, Grieco explained.

The transition to clean, renewable energy transported along evolved digital networks and coupled with a capacity to stockpile this energy are the pillars of the European strategy, she said.

"Europe is guiding the global energetic transition -- from this point of view I am proud to be an Italian and a European," she said. "Europe may be small, but it is not small in terms of its vision," she added.