In republican Italy the sequence of visits to Washington by heads of government had begun with the well-known mission of the then Prime Minister, Alcide de Gasperiof January 17, 1947, who went to the American capital to obtain American economic aid and commitments in support of the projects of reconstruction of Italy. Since then there has been practically no head of the Italian government who has not paid a visit to Washington to reaffirm the importance of the relationship with the USA. And obtain the license of reliable ally from the American President of the moment.
There are those who did it very quickly after taking office in Palazzo Chigi. And who had to wait longer. Of course, the agendas of these visits changed according to the circumstances. Just as the atmosphere of the talks was partly conditioned by the greater or lesser convergence of political sensibilities of the interlocutors.
All this to remember that the visit of the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the American capital it is part of a consolidated practice and a well-tried ritual. If anything, it is striking that Meloni had to wait almost eight months to make the long-awaited visit to Washington. Perhaps in this respect you weighed theinitial distrust of Biden towards Meloni, all inclusive little known, and surrounded by some suspicion in Washington. But it should also be remembered that Meloni, from her inauguration in Palazzo Chigi to today, had had various opportunities to meet Biden in multilateral contexts such as in the G20, G7, and NATO summits.
Convergence on Ukraine
The premises of the visit were overall positive. Giorgia Meloni from the beginning of her mandate had guaranteed the maximum continuity with respect to the Draghi government on the war in Ukraine. Full adherence to the Western line, condemnation of Russian aggression, wholehearted participation in the sanctions against Russia, full support for Ukraine, including with the supply of weapons (although Italy has contributed less than other allies to this front), and a commitment to a more authoritative and more credible NATO.
For Washington, these choices by the Meloni government, although anticipated by the positioning of the Brothers of Italy when it was in opposition to the Draghi government, were not taken for granted, given the pro-Russian sensitivities of other components of the majority that support the government. Biden and Meloni were therefore able to confirm this full convergence, as confirmed by the joint statement made public after the meeting. It was important for Biden to be able to continue to count on Italian support on this line. For Meloni it was equally important to confirm Italy’s alignment with the common position defined within NATO.
The theme of relations with China it figured on the agenda of the talks for two reasons. On a general level, it is known that the US considers China a strategic competitor and a threat to its security, with a symptomatically “bi-partisan” approach. And they are trying to recruit allies in a strategy of containment of Beijingfor which every opportunity is good to reiterate the importance of a common line in dealing with China (today on paper inspired by the principle of de-risking noted that the decoupling not practicable).
With Italy then there was the specific issue of the future of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)clumsily signed in January 2019 by the first Conte government, on the Italian participation in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The renewal or revocation of this memorandum (which to tell the truth has produced few practical consequences) is a source of embarrassment for the Italian government, which is subjected to growing but divergent pressures from Washington and Beijing. Meloni ruled out that the specific question was directly mentioned in the conversation. But it is known that Washington would welcome an Italian choice to revoke the MoU. And the Italian government seems to be orienting itself in this sense, even if no decision has been publicly announced. It therefore appears symptomatic that, with regard to China, the joint declaration limits itself to evoking the joint commitment to consult each other on how to respond to the challenges posed by the relationship with Beijing.
The challenge of the enlarged Mediterranean
Ample space was then dedicated in the conversation to the theme of the stability and prosperity of the region enlarged Mediterraneanand to the topic of relations with Africa, on which the Italian Government has decided to focus not only as a priority of national action, but also as a theme on which to involve the G7 and other international institutions. For some time Italy has been trying to involve a number of African countries in collaborative initiatives in which they appear economic and energy cooperation, and orderly management of migratory flows. And the meeting with Biden was a precious opportunity to solicit American support for these initiatives.
The Tunisia it could not fail to have its own specific role in this context given Italy’s commitment to the stability and stability of this country, also in terms of containment of the flow of migrants. However, it is unlikely that Biden was able to provide explicit guarantees of American support for the release of the loan from the International Monetary Fund. And it appears symptomatic that the joint declaration speaks of support for the Tunisian people (not for the Government of Tunis) and confines itself to recalling the interest of the two parties for a prosperous, secure and “democratic” Tunisia.
More generally and beyond generic American support for the initiatives launched by Italy on the issue of relations with the Mediterranean and Africa, it seems unlikely that Biden could promise concrete measures or initiatives given that for some time the USA seem to have opted for a line of disengagement from the Mediterranean and non-involvement in the crises of this region. Whether or not we like Africa and the Mediterranean are not among the priorities of this American administration.
Italy “reliable partner”
In summary, the visit (during which the Prime Minister also had meetings with Republican and Democratic representatives of Congress) seems to have consolidated in Washington the image of Meloni as a reliable partner on which the USA can count for some especially qualifying challenges. And this beyond the differences in political sensitivity on some sensitive issues (first of all the questions of rights of LGTB+ people or of the surrogacy) which remain divisive, because they have motivations rooted in their respective political traditions and cultures and in the sensitivities of their respective electorates, and which neither Meloni nor Biden have wanted to hide.
A visit that has been prepared for some time which has not brought any surprises (apart from Meloni’s choice to give up the press conference with the American President, preferring a separate meeting with the Italian press), which served to reaffirm the choices made by the Italian Government, and perhaps even for a few days ad ease the pressure on numerous policy issues (revision of the PNRR, fires and natural disasters, minimum wage, etc.) which the Government has to deal with on a daily basis.
Copertina EPA/Yuri Gripas / POOL’s photo