L’The interminable applause he received at the Sorbonne embarrasses him perhaps more than the homage, equally long, he received at the Scala in Milan, when he was seen reaching out his hands in front of him recommending a “enough … I understand … thank you”. And the same unease applies to the praise he hears during the lunch at the National Assembly, because “he contributed to re-evaluate the image of Italy”, while Macron had expressed his “admiration” to him shortly before.
There is a risk of rhetorical emphasis in recounting Sergio Mattarella’s day in Paris yesterday. But its success is a success for Italy and it is a fact that only thanks to him a severe diplomatic crisis between the two countries was finally resolved. In the face of those who argue that the heads of state should never deal with foreign policy.
Do you remember? The clash began in 2019 with the trip to France of the then 5-star vice-premier, Luigi Di Maio, “To give solidarity to the yellow vests” (including violent fringes) at war against the French government. Result: recall of the ambassador to Rome, Christian Masset, and immediate freezing of relations. A fracture which was then joined by the unfortunate sortie of our then Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini, who wanted to desert a summit on migrants, convened here, because “we do not take orders from the Elysée.”
Forgotten accidents now. Relaxed climate and recovered friendship. Indeed, “firmer than before,” according to Emmanuel Macron, with one restarting bilateral cooperation in the name of a European Union to advance. Above all it is Mattarella who gives impetus to this idea, with the anxiety of putting in place a “pact for a new Europe” – we could call it that – together with the landlord. Of course, further information will be needed. But the reflections in which he spoke with his colleague from beyond the Alps (with whom he has “a convergence of intentions on every dossier”) already count, as well as with the French institutions and the world of culture.
The political point, clear in the intervention at the Sorbonne, is the request for a decisive step forward for the Union. With the aim of a shared continental sovereignty. In short, compared to those who (even in Italy) would like “less Europe”, the head of state claims “more Europe”. IS it broadens the vision of Europeanism in the near future, with implicit no to theses and “manifestos” that are making noise. A no, without naming them but his back-thought lets itself be understood, goes to the proponents of illiberal democracies, such as the Hungarian Viktor Orbán, who feels too tight in the shirt of the EU and criticism every other day: “We need clarity, the price is the drastic decision of abandonment », Mattarella remembers. Another no goes to the so-called “frugal” nations, they want to be frugal at the homes of others and are shown to be opposed to European debt and common taxation, the only way to overcome the double crisis, the pandemic and the economy. And no, again, to certain countries of Northern Europe, which claim to teach lessons on almost everything and forget to recognize the human rights of refugees.
This is the chapter that is perhaps most dear to Mattarella. And even the most delicate, in the Paris talks, that it maintains grim checks at its borders. He discusses it during the interview with Macron, explaining to him in desolate tones that “in Italy someone is under the illusion that it is possible to put the sign prohibiting entry from Africa”. A metaphor to underline how “illusory” the muscular approach to the problem is. While, he insists with his leitmotif, we must “fight the trafficking of men” and “clandestinity, governing the phenomenon all together”. The question is therefore European, he repeats. Not only of the countries of first reception, such as Italy. And here he encounters full Macron sharing.
July 5, 2021 (change July 5, 2021 | 11:30 pm)
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