What will change for Oto Melara and Wass with the Italy-France treaty. Financial Times Report
Draghi and Macron want closer ties in Europe, but the relationship is at the test of Leonardo's sale of Oto Melara and Wass on which the Franco-German consortium Knds would like to get its hands. The Financial Times article
Two years ago France and Italy were so at odds that Paris recalled its ambassador and a squabble between the leaders resulted in a conflict of nicknames – but a Franco-Italian "treaty of friendship" that President Emmanuel Macron will sign in Rome tomorrow. shows how the mood has changed. The Financial Times writes.
Intended to stimulate closer collaboration on everything from foreign policy to defense and culture, the 60-page Quirinal Treaty mirrors a Franco-German agreement of 1963. The idea was discussed in 2017 by Macron and the former prime minister. Italian Minister Paolo Gentiloni, but was sunk the following year by the Italian Five Star coalition and the Nationalist League, which clashed hard with Paris over immigration to the EU.
Now the project has been relaunched under Macron and Mario Draghi, the Italian prime minister. With the former president of the European Central Bank at the helm in Rome, Italy's nationalist-populist impulses have been so tamed that even the League is in favor of the treaty.
"Our interest at the moment is to restart talks with France," Lorenzo Fontana, the Lega MP who is responsible for the party's foreign policy, told the Italian media.
Politically, the Draghi government wants to use a better relationship with Paris to play a more active role at the European level – particularly at a time when Germany is expected to focus more on domestic politics as a new government takes the reins from Angela Merkel.
There are also important benefits for France from a stronger relationship. Strengthening ties will help Macron strengthen the EU's moderate Western European core and gain leverage against populists at home, while securing an important ally to support him during the French EU presidency from early 2022.
The bridge between Rome and Paris could also help negotiate a post-pandemic reform of EU tax rules. The Stability and Growth Pact aims to limit deficits and public debt and is currently suspended due to the pandemic. A battle could loom over reform with so-called "frugal" countries like Austria, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands.
Even with Macron and Draghi in office, however, all may not be smooth between the two countries – particularly on the business front, often a source of friction between competing French and Italian industries.
Discussions about the possible sale of an Italian arms manufacturer owned by the state-controlled defense group Leonardo to a French rival could prove to be initial evidence. People close to the negotiations had expected the sale to be discussed during the French visit, but Italian doubts mean a decision could take much longer.
Knds, a Franco-German defense joint venture, has made a non-binding offer of 650 million euros to buy Leonardo's defense systems division, according to several people familiar with the talks.
The division includes two companies, formerly known as Oto Melara and Wass, which are leading manufacturers of naval guns, tank turrets and torpedoes. The offer is 200 million euros higher than that of the state-controlled Italian shipbuilder, Fincantieri.
But a backlash has begun, with the Five Star Movement, the oldest member of Draghi's ruling coalition, which opposes "the sale of Italian strategic assets to foreign investors". The Democratic Party, through Labor Minister Andrea Orlando, and the unions have also criticized the idea of a sale.
Over the weekend, Orlando, who is from the Ligurian city of La Spezia where Oto Melara is based, said it is not a question of "protectionism [but] it is quite obvious that financing the growth of foreign groups with national funds is not a strategy. intelligent". "I spoke to [Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini] and I think he is very clear on that," he added.
Guerini has been more cautious in public statements and several officials in Rome say a solution is not simple because it is in Italy's interest to be part of a Franco-German project to build the so-called European combat tank.
Supporters of an agreement argue that it would help Italy's defense capability by reducing production costs and would be a tangible sign of greater European cooperation in the defense sector. Critics say Italy would actually help France get rid of a major competitor in the arms manufacturing sector, also putting Italian jobs at risk.
Mistrust between French and Italian firms has led to lengthy takeover battles – as well as some discontent – in the past. "French industrial groups have bought many Italian companies," said Philippe Moreau Defarges, a former diplomat and senior fellow at the French Institute of International Relations.
In luxury goods in particular, French businessmen like Bernard Arnault and François Pinault have acquired emblematic Italian brands, adding brands like Loro Piana, Bulgari and Gucci to their empires.
The Italians also signaled concerns over the automotive merger between FCA and France's PSA to form Stellantis. Paris, unlike Rome, has a minority stake in the combined group which, they think, will help it better defend French manufacturing plants and jobs.
(extract from the foreign press review by Epr Comunicazione)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/otomelara-leonardo-trattato-italia-francia-report-ft/ on Thu, 25 Nov 2021 17:15:47 +0000.