The mission that Prime Minister Mario Draghi will see in Paris today has a double objective. On the one hand, it is a question of concretely demonstrating at the summit on the financing of African economies wanted by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the commitment of the Italian presidency of the G20 in addressing the issues of development on the African continent hit hard by the Covid pandemic. But, on the other hand, on the bilateral level, Draghi intends to strengthen the axis with Paris in terms of common EU leadership in a phase of great changes (from the reform of the Stability Pact to the new conference on the future of the Union).
Draghi and Macron to facilitate the Covax program
With many African leaders Macron and Draghi, together with the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the EU Council, Charles Michel and the Prime Ministers of Spain, Pedro Sanchez and of Portugal Antonio Costa will address the two essential issues for the relaunch of the continent: how to alleviate the unsustainable burden of debt and how to develop the economic system with the help of individuals and youth entrepreneurs by creating an adequate “business environment” and how to facilitate access to vaccines with the Covax program, not only for Covid. According to the Monetary Fund, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa are accumulating a deficit of 290 billion dollars by 2023. Last April, a moratorium on debt service was put in place by the Paris Club and the G20, which has allowed the deferral of the payment of 5.7 billion dollars of interest and 31 African countries benefited from it.
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Macron’s goal is to find new forms of financing
The objective of the summit wanted by Macron is to seek new sources of financing for sub-Saharan Africa affected by the consequences of Covid-19 and the weight of the debt. The topics that will be addressed concern external financing, the enhancement of the attractiveness of African economies, the strengthening of the private sector and the financing of large projects. The final declaration that Draghi will also sign today includes a political hat and 6 pages of detail (negotiated in Italy by the Mef) on the financial levers necessary for the recovery. All financial institutions will be present from the Monetary Fund to the World Bank, from the OECD to the EBRD to the African development Bank.
The meeting in Matera on June 28th
The Italian Presidency of the G20 focused on the theme “People, Planet and Prosperity” wants to give particular emphasis to the relief of the debt of African countries. A working lunch is already planned for the G20 foreign ministers meeting scheduled in Matera on 28 and 29 June. Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Niger will be invited to Matera as well as the foreign ministers of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, presidents of the African Union and Nepad, the African development organization, respectively.
Last words for the Quirinale Treaty
On the bilateral level, Draghi’s trip strengthens the axis with Paris in an essential junction for the future of the European Union. Draghi and Macron are preparing to lead European reforms next year at a time that will see the absence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Axis that will be even more solid with the trip that the President of the Republic will make from 3 July to Paris and which should definitively pave the way for the final signing of that Treaty of the Quirinal (following the example of the old Elysée Treaty signed by De ’63 with the German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer) launched by Macron at the Italian-French summit in Lyon in 2017 to which the Renzi and Gentiloni Governments gave their contribution with a working group coordinated, on the Italian side, by the former Minister of European policies Sandro Gozi.