Copasir invites the Chambers to guarantee the “protection of strategic assets” by France, after the signing of the Quirinal Treaty. Here is Copasir’s opinion, comparisons with China and analysts’ opinion
Thursday 10 February, in its latest annual report, Copasir (Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic) writes that the so-called Quirinale Treaty, or the agreement of enhanced cooperation between Italy and France signed in Rome on November 26, must provide for “adequate protection of strategic assets in the Italian financial and industrial sphere”. THE FRENCH PRESENCE IN ITALY
In the report, Copasir highlighted the national security risks posed by French economic penetration in Italy, for example in the automotive (Stellantis), telecommunications (Tim-Vivendi) and banking (Credit Agricole) sectors. THE QUIRINAL TREATY AS THE MEMORANDUM WITH CHINA
On the Quirinal Treaty, first of all, the Committee laments the fact that the document will be submitted to the Chamber for ratification only after its signature by the Prime Minister Mario Draghi and the French president Emmanuel Macron.
And he compares it to the memorandum on the Belt and Road Initiative, the political agreement signed with China by the government of Giuseppe Conte in 2019. In that case, the report reads, “the Government intended in advance to involve the Parliamentary Body in a debate on national security issues concerned, similar prior involvement did not occur in the case of the Treaty with France “. Unlike Beijing, however, Paris is a member of the European Union and NATO together with Rome. Furthermore, the European Union views China as an economic competitor and a systemic rival. THE OPINION OF THE ANALYSTS
Among the political analysts, Carlo Pelanda, professor of economic geopolitics at the University of Guglielmo Marconi, was particularly critical of the Quirinal Treaty. According to Pelanda, the possibility existed that the deal was biased in favor of Paris. Furthermore, he explained, Macron’s goal is to “conquer the Italian economy to balance the overwhelming power of the German one” and make Rome the vassal of Paris to “increase the centrality of the French defense industry” in Europe.
On the other hand, the thinking of Dario Fabbri, a geopolitical analyst who worked for years in Limes, is different. According to Fabbri, Macron’s goal through the agreement with Italy is rather that of “uniting the weight of Paris and Rome to inhibit a possible return to austerity” in Brussels at the push of the new German government; on the contrary, the French president would like to force Berlin to “maintain an expansive fiscal policy”.
In an article for La Stampa, the analyst explained that the pandemic has “unmasked” the structural weaknesses of Italy and France; in 2020 Germany guaranteed the issuance of bonds by the European Commission, making the recovery plan possible, to prevent a deep crisis in Northern Italy from compromising German industry, given the profound interdependence. However, he specified, “German public opinion is reluctant to commit sine die for its satellites, despite their participation in the national value chain, a chronic irrationality of an astrategic matrix, confirmed by the last elections”.
For Italy, therefore, the treaty with France serves both to avoid the return of German austerity in Europe, and to protect itself from Turkey, which has control of Libyan Tripolitania and is very present (even militarily) in the Balkans. To recap: in Rome it is better to stay on the side of Paris to protect themselves from Berlin and Ankara.
Fabbri specified that the Quirinal Treaty brings with it risks for Italy. First of all, that of “falling definitively into the French sphere of influence”, both in foreign policy and in the industrial field. “But the alternatives, German brand austerity and Turkish interference in our neighboring countries, are even worse,” he concluded.
