How Draghi’s Italy became a European model

Two years ago, Italy was at risk of becoming an outcast within the EU. A furious Emmanuel Macron, President of France, had recalled his ambassador to Rome after the Italian Deputy Prime Minister held an unauthorized summit with French protesters in the “Yellow Vest”.

At the same time, then-Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini fired daily social media shots at Brussels and smiled while taking selfies with French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Behind the scenes, Italian diplomats found themselves increasingly isolated, their government seen by many as an unstable and unreliable partner led by politicians who wanted to weaken the EU and flirt with Moscow and Beijing.

But less than three months after Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government of national unity, not only is Rome’s voice heard in Paris and Berlin, but the agenda is increasingly being set as the EU tries. get out of the Covid-19 pandemic. .

“Italy has always been seen as the EU’s juvenile delinquent and is now the European model,” said Jana Puglierin, a senior researcher at the European Foreign Relations Council.

On Monday, Draghi will present Italy’s plans to spend € 190 billion on EU loans and grants along with a set of structural reforms seen as key to the full credibility of Europe’s post-life recovery effort. The former president of the European Central Bank has also announced that Italy will have the largest budget deficit since the early 1990s and has decided to increase debt before the IMF call for all EU countries to do the same. Financial markets, often worried about the size of Italian public debt, are not worried at the moment, a sign of confidence in the new prime minister.

According to diplomats from both countries, such evil relations between Rome and Paris suddenly flourished. Draghi maintains regular calls with Macron, including one last week, to discuss the pandemic and other strategic issues.

In February, Draghi surprised many by becoming the first European leader to block Covid-19 vaccine exports outside the EU. The risky move, which occurred as tensions grew between the European Commission and the UK over the supply of vaccines, was quickly endorsed by Paris. It also provided political coverage for commission chairwoman Ursula von der Leyen to call for stronger export control.

Then, after a diplomatic incident in Ankara, where an embarrassed von der Leyen ran out of chairs at a summit with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Draghi came out again. While other European leaders remained largely silent, Draghi harshly criticized Erdogan, provoking anger in Turkey but diverting the focus from the EU’s diplomatic setback.

Clément Beaune, France’s European minister and Macron’s former European adviser to the Elysee, said the relationship between Draghi and Macron was “good and easy” and dates back to the time when Draghi ran the ECB and Macron was the French Minister of Economy.

“They know each other well,” Beaune said. “They shared the same line at the last European summit: they both insisted on the need to expand the [post-Covid] recovery plan and wanted more ambitious investment proposals. Draghi has the advantage of credibility, of having played a leading role in a European institution. . . It facilitates dialogue “.

And in Berlin, Draghi’s first months in office have been well received as a return by Italy to the heart of decision-making in Europe. “Italy returns to Europe,” said Alexander von Lambsdorff, a foreign policy spokesman for the German Free Democratic Liberal Party. “And a strong Europe needs a strong Italy.”

Von Lambsdorff said Draghi was seen in Berlin as a “European who creates the best European institutions, as can be seen by the support he has shown in the committee on vaccines and vaccine exports.”

Enzo Moavero Milanesi, Italian foreign minister under the first government of Giuseppe Conte, the man Draghi replaced, said the perception that Italy was seriously addressing its economic weakness would increase the country’s international stature.

“Italy, especially within the EU, has been perceived as a country with strong potential but weak performance, and this weakens your impact on foreign policy,” he said. “That the Italian government is now led by someone with extensive professional experience in dealing with foreign governments and counterparts is an important element of change.”

Another factor working in his favor is that Draghi commands a huge parliamentary majority in a year in which a post-Merkel Germany is preparing for elections and Macron is watching national polls in 2022. Although at least one of his counterparts ‘Germany and France will change, Draghi is expected to remain in support of Italy’s upcoming general elections in 2023 as long as he maintains the support of Italian political parties.

“Draghi arriving on the EU scene is one of the big changes,” said Georgina Wright, head of the European program at the Institut Montaigne, based in Paris.

Others believe there is a risk that expectations of what Draghi can really achieve are already too high.

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