He smiles as he listens Emmanuel Macron. “There are those who would like things to go badly between us – says the French – And instead there is a fraternal friendship between the two countries”. Mario Draghi nods. He knows who the President is thinking of. Think of the sovereignists. TO Marine Le Pen. A Giorgia Meloni. A Matteo Salvini, even if the subject is a little more uncomfortable for those who lead national unity. To those who glimpse colonialism where there is integration. Macron recalls the “storms” of the past. The tensions and the yellow vests, the anti-European and autarchic right that are the other side of the continent. “But we, today, with the Quirinal Treaty, endow the Union with tools that make it stronger. And we seek European sovereignty ”.
Treaty of the Quirinale, Draghi and Macron immediately in tune: “No more rigor”
by Tommaso Ciriaco, Anais Ginori
Nine flags, three for each protagonist of the day: Italy, France, Europe. At Villa Madama the spaces are small and they struggle to keep journalists, diplomats, staff and all this ostentatious harmony between the two leaders together. Shown to the point of making a relationship seem a bit artificial that, in reality, really works and represents the political path to follow in the coming months. “We want to design our future – is Draghi’s political project – and design it as we Europeans want”.
Treaty of the Quirinale, Macron: “May Europe be stronger and more sovereign”
The key is twofold, at least: a new Stability Pact to abandon the rigor and rigor of the past, a common defense to guarantee the Union the ability to react promptly to challenges: “To be sovereign – adds the President of the Council – Europe it must be able to protect itself and defend its borders “.
Concepts once banned, on both sides of the Alps, resound. It is the virus that threatens everyone to have upset minds and political plans. And to have scrambled ancient slogans and hesitations, feeding a pro-European passion with a vigor at least equal to that with which the sovereign right blows on the nationalism of the walls. And therefore, Macron clearly indicates the objective of the Presidency which opens in January 2022: to deeply reform the Union, equip itself with the ability to act as a single body, “no longer depend on other” extra-continental “actors. More: it asks for “greater independence”, but for Europe. What about national interests? They remain, if only if they remain and weigh, but they must necessarily coordinate – and perhaps sometimes even a little dodge – when European action is at stake. Easy to say, difficult to fulfill. “We need a common geopolitical vision”, the French President brutally summarizes, and thinks of Libya and the Sahel, the Mediterranean quadrant and the energy that risks weakening Europe when it marches divided and without coordination.
Once the treaty is closed, the emphasis of these hours will inevitably wane. Obviously, the presidential campaign for re-election is also involved. But Macron still seems to be really heading towards a new phase. And the same shows that he wants Draghi, above all else. The premier is also playing for the future, whether it is at Palazzo Chigi or at Colle we will see. Concepts and hopes do not change, regardless of which building will host it from February 2022: changing the Stability Pact is a priority, vital, unavoidable. “The new rules – clarifies the former central banker – must reflect on the past to be corrected and on the future to be designed. If previously a revision of the rules was necessary, today it is inevitable. All this must be done with the European Union, together ”.
We will proceed to Brussels for tears and reassembly. The variable of the pandemic will weigh, which in these hours is biting back like never before for several months. And a lot will also depend on the role that post-Merkel Germany will be able to play, without which nothing can be built. Both leaders support him, although Macron obviously supports him more. Early in the morning he hears and makes it known that he has heard the Chancellor to discuss the joint measures against Covid, but it is clear that he also intends to make it clear to the world that that axis lives and resists any change of German government. “In France – smiles the President – it is said that when things go wrong with Germany, we look to Italy. But it does not work like this: Europe is built at 27, we must not look for substitutes for one or the other in the various alliances. “In short, Rome cannot and would not succeed in replacing Berlin.
And yet, the challenge of the common debt remains: the mechanism underlying the philosophy of Recovery must be structured, German Liberals permitting. Flexibility in the accounts will also have to be strengthened, which forever archives any harmful temptation to austerity, incompatible with the extraordinary phase in progress: “Without the support of the State – Draghi recalls – we would not have made it through the pandemic. And this must also be kept in mind for the future ”.
The Frecce tricolori and the joint signature run fast. That the treaty is truly “historic”, as the Italian premier assures, it will be history that confirms or denies it. Certainly, in the meantime, increasingly stringent agreements are being established: one, today, in the aerospace sector, a terrain where the two countries usually fight bitter commercial battles. And yet also on values: the democratic ones, the fight against terrorism and the memory of the victims, of the Bataclan as of Valeria Solesin, who was killed in that theater along with many French people. As well as in symbolic gestures. One embodies the meaning of the day: from now on the two governments will “exchange” hospitality and will open their respective councils of ministers to a member of the executive of the allied country four times a year.
“A really great speech”, is the greeting that Draghi whispers to Macron. They will meet again in twenty days at the European Council in Brussels. Everything will seem more difficult there, but this is the challenge.
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