How Draghi Italy became a “European model”

Two years ago Italy was in danger of becoming a pariah within the EU. French President Emmanuel Macron furiously remembered his ambassador to Rome as the Italian deputy prime minister held an unauthorized summit with French “yellow vest” protesters.

At the same time, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini threw daily social media tirades against Brussels, and smiled at French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Behind the scenes, Italian diplomats became increasingly isolated, saw their government as an unstable and unreliable partner led by politicians who wanted to weaken the EU, and linked it to Moscow and Beijing.

But just three months after Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government for national unity, Rome’s voice is heard loud and clear in Paris and Berlin, but it is setting more and more agendas as the EU tries to pull out of the Covid-19 pandemic. .

“Italy has always been seen as a juvenile delinquency in the EU, and is now a European model,” said Jana Puglierin, a senior politician at the Council of Europe for foreign relations.

On Monday, Draghi will present plans to spend 190 billion euros in EU loans and grants to the EU, along with a series of structural reforms that are considered critical to the full credibility of Europe’s post-Covid recovery effort. The former president of the European Central Bank has also announced that Italy will have the largest budget deficit in the early 1990s, and has decided to increase its debt before the IMF calls on all EU countries to do the same. The financial markets, which are often worried about the size of Italy’s public debt, are not worried at the moment, a sign of confidence in the new prime minister.

According to diplomats from both countries, the rough relations between Rome and Paris have suddenly blossomed before. Draghi makes regular calls with Macron, including last week, to discuss the pandemic and other strategic issues.

In February, Draghi surprised many by being the first European leader to block exports of Covid-19 vaccines outside the EU. Paris immediately backed the dangerous move that was fueling tensions between the European Commission and the UK. It also provided political coverage to committee chair Ursula von der Leyen to demand stronger export controls.

Then, after the diplomacy that took place in Ankara, where an embarrassed von der Leyen was left without a chair at the summit with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Draghi left again. While other European leaders were silent, Draghi harshly criticized Erdogan, causing anger in Turkey but diverting attention from the EU’s diplomatic misfortune.

Clément Beaune, the French European minister and Macron’s former European adviser to the Elysee, said the relationship between Draghi and Macron was “good and easy” when Draghi headed the ECB and said Macron was the French economy minister.

“They know each other well,” Beaun said. “They shared the same line at the last European summit – both stressed the need to expand [post-Covid] he wanted a recovery plan and more ambitious investment proposals. Draghi has the advantage of credibility because he has been a leader in a European institution. . . It makes the conversation easier. “

And in Berlin, the first months of Draghi’s tenure have been welcomed as a way for Italy to return to the heart of European politics. “Italy has returned to Europe,” said Alexander von Lambsdorff, a spokesman for Germany’s Free Democratic Party foreign policy. “And a strong Europe needs a strong Italy.”

Von Lambsdorff said that Draghi in Berlin is “a European who creates a great outlet for European institutions,” as can be seen with the support shown by the Committee on Vaccines and Vaccine Exports.

Enzo Moavero Milanesi, Italy’s foreign minister in Giuseppe Conte’s first government, who replaced Draghi, said that the perception that Italy was now seriously facing its economic weakness would increase the country’s international level.

“Italy, especially within the EU, is perceived as a country with high potential but poor performance, which weakens your impact on foreign policy,” he said. “The important element of change is that the Italian government is led by someone with extensive professional experience working with foreign governments and counterparts.”

Another factor that works in his favor is that Draghi promises a huge parliamentary majority in the year leading up to post-Merkel Germany elections, and Macron is conducting national polls in 2022. While at least one of his counterparts will change in Germany and France, Draghi, while maintaining the support of Italian political parties, is expected to remain in Italy until the 2023 general election.

“Draghi’s coming to the EU scene is one of the big game changers,” said Georgina Wright, head of the European program at the Institut Montaigne in Paris.

Others believe that there is a risk that the expectations of what Draghi can achieve in realism will be too high.

“The Italian establishment tends to fall in love with leaders, and right now it is seen that Draghi is a man on the water,” says Nathalie Tocci, director of the Institute for International Affairs in Rome. “We’re not going to do him any favors by painting him as infallible. He is capable of making mistakes. “