MNI ANALYSIS: Italy-France Ties At Low As Leaders Flex Muscles

By Silvia Marchetti

     ROME (MNI) - Ties between Italy and France are at low point, with both

countries competing for a leadership role in Europe, sponsoring overhauls in the

big European project and clashing over national interests. 

     Matteo Renzi, former Italian premier and frontrunner for next year's

general election, and newly-elected French president Emmanuel Macron are flexing

their muscles over a European leadership role aimed at bolstering their

countries by pushing forward controversial actions and proposals that

paradoxically clash with European integration goals. 

     Several top Italian officials have slammed Macron's attempt to nationalise

the joint Italy-French naval STX shipyards in Sainte Nazaire, a move which has

triggered a diplomatic row with the Rome government. Paris wants joint control,

but Italian authorities have no intention of giving up their majority stake. 

     "Macron has won the elections by waving the pro-Europe flag, but he has

heavily disappointed so far with this nationalist, Gaullist stance and his

recent unilateral move to make Libya's opposing factions reach an agreement to

appease the country and stop migrants, our core battle. Where's his European

spirit? He's causing trouble to Europe and to us," Giampaolo Galli, Democrat

deputy and member of the Lower House Budget committee, told Market News. 

     Talking to the French press last week, French finance minister Bruno Le

Maire said the "decision had been taken for the good of France", ruling out that

it was a protectionist move, saying only that "France defends her interests just

like China and the United States do". 

     The meeting on Tuesday in Rome between Italian finance minister Pier Carlo

Padoan and Le Maire did not solve the shipyard impasse, postponing a future

solution to the Italy-France bilateral summit in September. Macron will be

meeting with prime minister Gentiloni, but both parties have reiterated neither

will take a "step back".

     As a form of retaliation, Rome's government may block a French take-over of

Italy's main telecom operator by using its 'golden share' powers, a power that

can be exercised in all foreign acquisitions of key national firms.

     WOULD ITALY HAVE ACTED DIFFERENTLY

     According to Galli, Renzi would never have made such a move on the

shipyards. But it should be noted that the former premier, talking at a recent

event, said Macron had done the right thing in defending France's interests,

suggesting that he might have made a similar, if not identical, choice. 

     Renzi argued that Macron's nationalist take on events stands as a precedent

that would give Italy the right to defend its own national interests when the

right time comes: if "European rules allow Macron to make a battle over the

shipyards, then good, they'll allow us the possibility to lead battles in other

fields," Renzi said. 

     Renzi has always aimed for less EU budgetary restraints. He recently took

his anti-austerity crusade a step further, pledging to overcome the tight Fiscal

Compact debt rule if he wins the elections, even pushing the deficit-to-GDP

threshold to its 2.9% limit. 

     Both Macron and Renzi have exploited the same pro-European rhetoric to

their advantage to gain power.

     "Macron wants to recover France's lost grandeur after the political and

economic decline that occurred during Hollande's presidency so that France can

lead change in Europe. But his strong Gaullist tradition is an obstacle to the

European progress, as it has often been in French history before," said Sergio

Fabbrini, School of Government dean at Rome-based LUISS University.  

     In the same way Renzi's slogan, from the very beginning of his rise to

power and now as he acts as a "second", behind the scene Prime Minister, is "we

need to first change and empower Italy if we want to change Europe and make it

stronger". 

     EUROPEAN MILITARY POWER STILL A DRIVER OF RIVALRY

     Marina Berlinghieri, Democrat member of the Lower House EU Affairs

Committee, pointed out that behind the shipyard row stood a French/Italian

rivalry in paving the way to a EU common security and defence policy (CSDP).  

     "Let's not forget that those STX shipyards also build military ships and

other high-tech military sea platforms," she said. 

     "Discussing a future common defence policy means that each member state

must accept rules from above, on how much military equipment and how many

vessels it is allowed to construct, and it's a difficult step forward. That's

why the CSDP pillar, linked also to having a united approach in migratory issues

and foreign policy, is still missing from the European architecture," she added.

     The issue was highlighted overnight, following an announcement by the

Italian and Qatari governments over the purchase and supply of 7 naval vessels

to be built in Italy.

     Macron has so far shown little in the way of a burden-sharing approach in

tackling the migration emergency where Italy sits on the frontline. He recently

refused to open French harbours to ships involved in migrant rescue operations

and has intensified controls at the northern border with Italy, shutting the

Ventimiglia frontier crossing.

     Boosting the European project means increasing federalism and therefore

sacrificing sovereignty and national interests to the common good, a leap

forward for which many states are not yet prepared, Berlinghieri said. If

nationalist stances prevail, the entire European project risks being at stake,

she warned. 

     "It's quite obvious and acceptable that both Macron and Renzi, being

Europe's youngest and most promising leaders, both with strong charisma, are

running as protagonists on the European stage but it's crucial that Europe's

common good remains everyone's supreme goal," she said. 

     The current rivalry between Rome and Paris reflects the competition among

member states in daily negotiations at EU level over sovereignty compromises in

boosting integration, added Berlinghieri. 

     Galli said France, however, was not in a position to push nationalist

stances as it currently lacked the fiscal credibility to do so: "Paris' deficit

level is way out of control, the French are also under the European commission's

scrutiny for their wobbly finances and even if their debt is lower than ours, it

has increased more during Hollande's presidency," he said.

     According to Fabbrini, Macron aims to empower France as a military leader

in Europe, wanting French hegemony to stand up against the German economic

engine. It's not seen as a coincidence that his first moves as president have

been in foreign, security and military policy.

     "Macron has been elected solely to pursue France's interests, not Europe's,

and he's playing a solo match which is uniquely French. It's been nonsense to

consider him a pro-European leader," argued Fabbrini. 

     The trouble is, France today is the most powerful European nation on the

world stage: "Now that the UK has left Europe, France is the only EU country

with a permanent seat at the UN Security Council, with veto power and nuclear

weapons."

     This currently leaves Italy out of the bigger European picture, caught up

in a pre-electoral climate that is raising political uncertainty. "Truth is,

Renzi is now out of the government and no one knows if he will ever return to

power. Italy's future will depend on the uncertain outcome of next year's

elections and what impact this will have at EU level," Fabbrini warned. 

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$E$$$,M$F$$$,M$I$$$,M$X$$$,MC$$$$,MI$$$$,MGX$$$]