Here are the two fronts that Draghi must fight
Late summer reflections on foreign and Italian policy. The speech by Raffaele Lauro, general secretary of Unimpresa
In the pro-draghian jubilation, almost always exploited by the electoral interests of the parties of the so-called majority of national unity, between those who want it at the Quirinale, because they aspire to early elections in late spring 2022, and those who insist, for diametrically opposite reasons, that they remain at Palazzo Chigi until 2023, postponing the return to the polls at the natural expiry of the legislature, the authoritative figure of the premier became the subject of partisan speculation, within the controversial government structure. Other sources see him projected, with a suspicious advance, to the political leadership of the future European Union, which, with him, should magically rise from its ashes, after the Afghan crisis, the eclipse, hopefully momentary, of the Atlantic leadership of the United States and a consolidated international leadership, after the hypothetical successes, at the helm of the G20 (2021), both extraordinary and ordinary, in the complex diplomatic mediation, which it is carrying out, between the great powers.
The only thing missing is that some improvised prophet will apply him, in the next conclave, to the throne of Peter, to complete this rosary of candidates. In this tactical game, we deliberately ignore the reasons that forced Mattarella to mobilize him to lead the government, the human, ethical, cultural and institutional profile of Mario Draghi, as well as his personal history of service to public affairs, without improvisations, aspirations without foundation and, above all, without the underestimation of the challenges, which, in this dramatic conjuncture of events, he has been called to face, on behalf of our country, in safeguarding the national interest.
If it were allowed to establish a comparison between a civil leader of today and a military leader of yesterday, consecrated in the historical annals of Western civilization, it could be said that Mario Draghi finds himself having to "fight", like Julius Caesar in the siege of Alesia, between two fires: the internal one and the external one. The internal one concerns the permanent conflict between the governing parties, which will be accentuated, in the coming weeks, on the structural reforms still to be launched, starting with the tax authorities, on the fibrillations that will precede (and follow!) The results (and the ballots!) Of the administrative policies of October 3, i.e. the day after tomorrow, on the refugee reception policies, not only Afghans, that will arise from the G20 and on the unresolved developments of the pandemic, as well as on the tensions that will accumulate, until January 2022, for the election of the tenant of the Quirinale. The external one concerns, immediately, the convocation, the conduct, the results and the commitments, tangible, and not only on the face, of the extraordinary G20, convened on the international management of the Afghan crisis, in the face of the reticence of an American presidency, crippled and under attack, by the underground resistance of the British Prime Minister, by the demands of Putin's Russia (participation of Pakistan and Iran!), by the sabotage maneuvers of Erdogan's Turkey and, last but not least, by the conditions that China will place for Xi Jinping. Strategic interests, present and future, completely opposed and divergent, which could explode in the context of the forum, causing the failure of the Italian initiative, branded, a posteriori, as unrealistic and improvised, with serious damage to the image of the proponent. The hope remains that Draghi's diplomatic genius will follow the victorious fate of Caesar's military genius, as a premise for facing the challenge of challenges, which invests the future destiny of the European Union and the old continent, in the new global geopolitical equilibrium.
The European Union, as such, was not mobilized by President Bush jr., In the "coalition of the willing", led by the United States, which, after the 2001 Islamic terrorist attack in New York, at the Twin Towers, together with NATO and some allied countries, including Germany, France and Italy, led the war in Afghanistan to destroy the operational bases of terrorist organizations and introduce a democratic regime.
After twenty years (2001/2021), the war ended with the defeat and chaotic retreat of the Americans, NATO and all the allied countries of the coalition. President Biden brought (badly, very badly!), To the conclusion a disengagement, already inherent in the reckless "Doha Accords" (February 2020), signed, superficially and inane, by the Trump presidency. The tragedy, which is unfolding, in these days, was therefore very predictable, even if the careless and improvised modalities of the withdrawal (other than a planned exit strategy!), Have exposed the Biden presidency and the West to a planetary fool, which raises questions about the future leading role of the US, the reorganization of NATO, relations with European allies and the transition from bipolarism, born in Yalta, to multipolarism, subject to growing pressure from Xi's China, Putin's Russia and of Erdogan's Turkey. This global geo-political upheaval, however, has the European Union as its main collateral victim. Therefore, the American crisis has resulted in a crisis of the West and in the definitive acknowledgment of the weakness of the old continent and the strategic inconsistency of its Union. An economic giant perhaps, a political dwarf of course, because without a single foreign policy, without a common defense and without, in the turmoil of the conflicting positions of the various leaders of the member states, the possibility of weighing a single position on the European continent. With the great danger, in the face of the emerging imperial autocracies and the increasingly widespread authoritarian democracies, of seeing the liberal democracies and, with them, the culture of freedom, the protection of constitutional rights suffocated as a historical remnant of the twentieth century of people and respect for the rules.
That Western civilization, of Christian inspiration, therefore, which requires not only to proclaim the rights of Afghans and the dignity of women, but to work to make concrete, even in Afghanistan, the protection of those rights. All is not lost, but it is necessary, and urgent, to react to a decadence with no return, implementing a strategy, in forced stages, otherwise Europe will become the classic “earthenware vase among iron vessels”, of Manzoni's memory.
The immediate and future choices of the European Union, therefore, despite American errors, will not be able to "lose" the democratic vocation and the spirit of Atlantic solidarity. While acting as a diplomatic bridge with Russia and China, Europe will have to help the United States to dismiss the current identity crisis, to avoid the danger of a neo-isolationism and to regain the dignity and the role of guiding power of ' West. Naturally, starting from an equal basis, both in the redefinition of NATO's mission and in its management, in order to avoid current misunderstandings. All this will be possible only if it manages to overcome its "political dwarfism", accelerating the political unity of the European institutions: on the international relations front, on a common defense program, starting from cyber security, inserted in the framework of the new Born, and, first of all, in the reception policies, so far disregarded. Common economic and monetary policies, while necessary, are no longer enough.
Now it is necessary, with courage, with determination and with the sacrifice of the old position rents of each State, to make that political-institutional turning point, so dreamed of by the founding fathers of the European community. The time has therefore come to ask ourselves what we Europeans are and what we want to be. The king is naked! And they can no longer expect to be defended, without adequate costs, taking care only to do business with the new Eastern empires. Therefore, an awareness of the reality by the Union and all the Member States, without exception, with the consequent decisions to be taken will be vital. Failing that, the old continent, in the new global geopolitical balances, will be forced to renounce its ancient history of democratic civilization and, with it, its freedom and its destiny in the world. Without further appeals!
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/draghi-politica-interna-estera/ on Wed, 01 Sep 2021 06:25:39 +0000.