Italy, France, the neighbours, and all of us
Victor Angelo
Mario
Draghi and Emmanuel Macron represent two different generations of Europeans.
The former belongs to the one that became adult and free around the time of May
68 and whose parents had suffered the horrors of the Second Great War. For an
Italian of that time, the values of peace, freedom, prosperity, and cooperation
between nations are the foundations of a common Europe. Macron is one of the
younger leaders, those who lived through their formative years after the fall
of the Berlin Wall and at a time when globalisation was in full swing. His
generation sees the deepening of the Union as indispensable if it is to face up
to competition between the major powers and maintain a relative degree of
strategic independence.
Today
they are signing a new treaty of friendship between their countries - a treaty
of enhanced cooperation, as they call it. The aim, they tell us, is to promote
better coordination on policy, security and defence, migration, and other
areas. Beyond the bilateral dimension, the intention is to support each other
in the European arena. They come from different generations, but they both
believe in the future of the European project. For them, homeland and Europe
are mutually enforcing concepts.
I
believe it is essential that both countries play a central role in
strengthening European unity. And let them be joined by Germany, now under the
leadership of the new chancellor, Olaf Sholz. This will give us a balanced
core, supported by pragmatic moderates and social democratic forces, to which
other leaders can be added. The future of European politics must be based on a
vision that combines the economic transformation demanded by the climate challenges
and the digital age with humanism and respect for the values enshrined in the
Lisbon Treaty.
And
what about defence, could Josep Borrell ask, the high representative who
recently presented the first version of a European defence and security plan?
Baptised as Strategic Compass, and now under consideration in the European
capitals, could this plan benefit from the treaty signed today in Rome?
In
principle, yes. But these common defence things are complicated. Let's take a
current example. On the same day that Draghi and Macron embrace, Italian
government ministers continue to oppose the sale to a Franco-German consortium
of an Italian company that produces cannons for ships, tank parts and
torpedoes. The amount the consortium is willing to pay is generously high. But
Italian nationalism on defence industries and jobs speaks with a loud voice.
And the deal is on hold.
This
is just one example of the difficulties that the Strategic Compass will
encounter. And which it needs to take into account, explicitly.
Nationalisms
aside, the truth is that the people of Europe do not have an integrated vision
of the external threats that may jeopardise Europe's peace, well-being, and
unity. And Borrell's plan does not help.
Firstly,
because it assumes that the danger comes only from outside, when in fact some
of the major threats to the stability and security of the EU are internal. They
stem from existing social fractures in some of the countries of the Union and
their accelerated worsening. They also stem from autocratic tendencies in some
Member States, ultra-nationalist populism and the poor functioning of the
institutions that should underpin democracy at national level.
Secondly,
because Borrell starts from the ambiguous concept that Europe is in
"strategic contraction", something that would result from the progressive
decrease in our economic and demographic weight compared to the rest of the
world. If this argument were valid, Russia, which has a third of the population
and a tenth of Europe's GDP, would not have any strategic influence.
International projection is not necessarily based on economic or demographic
gigantism. Take the example of Norway.
We
will return to the Strategic Compass on another occasion. For now, and because
of what is happening today in Rome, the important thing is to stress that
strengthened cooperation between neighbours is one of the most direct ways to
consolidate the EU.
(Automatic translation of the opinion piece I published in the Diário de
Notícias, the old and prestigious Lisbon newspaper. Edition dated 26 November
2021)
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