Music to the ears: the words, reported by Repubblica, of Prime Minister Mario Draghi and of the undersecretary with delegation to the Services Franco Gabrielli before Copasir about the need to clarify the relations between political parties – and not only – with Moscow and Beijing they break down an open door.
As mentioned a few days ago, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has finally turned the spotlight also on the liaisons dangereuses between the constituent bodies of Italian democracy and the authoritarian counterparts of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China: political parties, media, businesses, universities. , foundations, think tanks. The plots are manifold and seriously undermine the heart of our democratic estate.
Although we cannot and must always presuppose a malicious intent on the Italian side, the disparity in knowledge about the nature and objectives of the authoritarian counterparts has put and continues to seriously jeopardize the security of our country. A disparity often used for propaganda purposes by the regimes – as in the quintessential occasion of the closed-door meeting between the presidents of the House and Senate Foreign Committees with the Xinjiang authorities and the forced testimony of Uighur detainees for the sole benefit of the press. under the regime of Beijing – or in the search to use the Italian Republic as a Trojan horse in the bosom of the largest international contexts such as the G7.
In recent years, a shield has gradually been raised on the sectors defined as “strategic” through the so-called golden power, but we have remained hesitant in expanding the front of investigations and knowledge on the extensive interference in the intermediate bodies. It is essential to arrive at a shared understanding that in a democracy the sectors that form and express public opinion – from politics to the media, from universities to businesses – are as strategic as the finest technology of the latest generation.
The words expressed by the Prime Minister are therefore welcome, hoping that they can be followed up immediately. A follow-up that must necessarily involve all political parties and be an open invitation to the media, businesses, think tanks, foundations, etc. to start a serious path of reflection and contrasting action.
I would like to refer in this sense to the recommendations made in the report “An Easy Prey: the operations of influence of the Chinese Communist Party in Italian parliamentary and local politics” as they can guide the common efforts to be undertaken to save Italian democracy and bring to a shared knowledge to counter future efforts of malicious interference.
Although the report focuses on the Chinese Communist Party’s agencies of influence, similar efforts can and should be undertaken with Russian counterparts – and beyond. Perhaps, the hope on the part of the Prime Minister is a bit naïve that the parties – or the investee companies – will work on their own to shed light on their relations.
We will never tire of reiterating that to clarify we need an overall investigation that can lead to the adaptation of a regulatory framework that requires transparency, at the same time adopting a spirit of public sharing of information in order to adequately protect the same. intermediate bodies of the exploitation of cognitive asymmetry.
On this, parties across the political spectrum must be able to unite, in a common commitment to counteract the operations of influence, disinformation and propaganda launched by totalitarian regimes, to protect Italy’s national interest and the integrity of its political system. . Competition between political forces, an integral part of a healthy democracy, must not favor the tactics of divide and conquer launched from the outside.
Democratic forces, although they may have profound disagreements on other issues, face a common threat in influence operations, and as found in relations with Chinese Communist Party influence agencies, it is a problem that touches all political parties, no one excluded.
Opposing such interference on the basis of a work of truth – voluntary or imposed – is the prerequisite for a strong Italy in bilateral and multilateral relations based on equality and on the defense of its national values ​​and interests. We hope that with the words of President Draghi the time has really come.
