/ world today news/ Germany and Italy have signed an action plan to expand cooperation, which can be considered a counterbalance to the Franco-Italian Quirinal Treaty signed in 2021, which foresees a convergence of the positions of Paris and Rome in foreign policy and on issues of pan-European importance (economy, education, ecology, cross-border cooperation, migration, culture).
The degree of geopolitical competition between European powers is increasing. After the Paris-Berlin alliance enshrined in the 2019 Aachen Treaty failed to bring about a solution to the problems facing the European Union, countries with less influence (among them Italy) began to balance between France and Germany, on the one hand, and Great Britain and the United States, on the other.
The leader of the French Patriots party, Florian Philippe, called the Franco-German alliance a myth. The hesitation of other major European countries between Paris and Berlin confirms his opinion. The “Franco-German engine” never got off the ground.
With the signing of the Quirinal Treaty, Rome relied on interaction with Paris in the Mediterranean basin and the implementation of energy projects between North Africa and the EU. Paris probably assumed that Berlin would either have to join the Franco-Italian doumvirate on terms already established, or enter into competition with it on the intra-European route, which in one way or another would mean a tangible political advantage for Paris and Rome over Berlin.
But the Italians spoiled France’s plans. The agreement with Berlin allows Rome to simultaneously pursue transalpine energy projects and avoid total dependence on its French ally, leaving it alone with its ambitions.
The common interests of France and Italy are determined by geography itself. These countries share a sea border with North Africa, from where a stream of illegal migrants moves to Europe. Therefore, the Italian authorities did not completely turn away from France, but at the same time balanced the French influence with the German one.
The government of Georgia Meloni, like the government of Olaf Scholz, opposes the settlement in the EU of illegal immigrants rescued in the Mediterranean. As a last resort, Rome agreed to their transit to Germany. Paris, on the contrary, insists on the initial accommodation of migrants in Italy, thus trying to prevent their appearance at the French borders.
As a result, Berlin and Rome settled the migrant issue, Meloni no longer insists on accommodating them in Germany, but insists that France accept migrants, as illegal migration is a pan-European, not an Italian, problem.
Paris has refrained from taking radical anti-migrant steps for fear it would damage its already damaged image in Africa. Against this background, trying to maintain a military-political and economic presence in the Maghreb, Paris tried to “appease” the Africans by apologizing for the colonial past. Paris understands that tough measures against African illegal immigrants will fail the whole game.
For its part, Germany intends to invest more in Africa to keep pace with other players. Most of the investment is likely to come from Tropical Africa rather than the Maghreb countries.
Thus, the German sphere of influence on the Dark Continent, if Berlin were to succeed in creating one, would be located south of the Maghreb, geopolitically complementing the German-Italian alliance that exerted pressure on France from the opposite flank.
If Berlin and Rome succeed, France will find itself in a conditional political environment, its freedom of maneuver restricted on both continents simultaneously. That is why German experts called the treaty between Germany and Italy the wedge between Italy and France (einen Keil zwischen Italien und Frankreich).
The rapprochement between Rome and Berlin is consistent with the pan-European strategy of the US. The Scholz government is openly pro-American. The strategy adopted by Rome for the “wider Mediterranean” also fits into Washington’s policy in this region.
The “wider Mediterranean” includes large territories and waterways adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea or linked politically and economically to Mediterranean countries. In the north it extends to the Alps; to the west – beyond Gibraltar to the Canary Islands and the Atlantic Ocean; to the south – to the Sahel; to the east – to the Black Sea, includes the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, the Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa.
This gives Italy the theoretical possibility to act as a participant in the political processes taking place in a given part of the planet and as a mediator in the dialogue between the participants in them.
Paris saw this strategy as an attack on French influence in Africa. Italy is becoming an additional foothold for the US in the region. An unspoken geopolitical axis is being built: Washington – London – Berlin – Rome. The degree of interaction of its links varies, but the very fact of the existence of such an axis complicates France’s position in both Europe and Africa, undermining the ability of Paris to strengthen its influence in Europe after London’s exit from the EU, and makes Europe in this respect more susceptible to Anglo-Saxon influence.
Translation: ES
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