Former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta has said that while he is not planning a return to politics, "you can never resign from political engagement."
Letta, who spoke to CNBC from the Ambrosetti Workshop on Friday, said he was "absolutely not" planning a comeback. However, the former PM said, "You can resign from parliament as I did, but you never resign from the political engagement. Political engagement is heart."
He added that he fears for Europe's future. "This is why I am so engaged in helping Europe, supporting Europe and saying that Italy has to take this leadership because Italy's engagement is crucial for the future of the European Union," he told CNBC.
Letta believes that a global solution is needed to tackle the refugee crisis in Europe, otherwise, "we close one road and the other road will be opened," referencing the change in 2015 of the route for migrants to enter Europe from the Balkans rather than the Mediterranean.
An outspoken critic of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, Letta said that while he still hoped the Republican candidate would lose the presidential elections, Trump is succeeding in "changing the political mood in the States. He is obliging the other candidates, maybe also the future president to change mood, to change direction, to have different opinions on many topics… trade is becoming for both the euro and the American camp a sort of devil, it's a big problem for all of us."
Letta told CNBC that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections, the consequences of Trump's candidature will be "very important on the American political landscape but also on the rest of world."