Cooperation and Conflict in the Mediterranean region: Italian point of views

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1 Cooperation and Conflict in the Mediterranean region: Italian point of views Mare nostrum?: Italian geopolitics towards the Mediterranean region since XIX century between cooperation and conflict

2 2 Early Italian geopolitics towards Mediterranean Sea Historical Right and Historical Left: Italian foreign policy; Rivalry with France and Triple Alliance ( ); Italo-Turkish War ( ) and the colony of Libya (1934); The Mediterranean Sea equilibrium before World War II;

3 3 Fascism, Mediterranean Sea and symbolism Concept of Mare Nostrum: Mediterranean Sea as an Italian lake; Proletarian States against Imperialism: at the roots of revisionism; Military inititatives: Corfù (1923), Spain ( ), Albania (1939), Greece (1940); Mediterranean Sea and autonomy;

4 4 Cold War: Atlantism vs Mediterraneanism Italy after 1945: the Atlantic and European circles; A certain idea of (neo-)atlantism: Italian foreign policy and the role of Enrico Mattei; Reasons for mediterraneanism: a) geostrategic position; b) cooperation with MENA countries; c) strategic security; Three Circles Approach: Italian foreign policy was addressed to three different spheres of interest;

5 5 Recent years and new perspectives The new importance of Mediterranen basin: conflicts, resources, diplomacy; Second Lebanon War (2006) and the Italian leadership in UNIFIL; Barcelona process and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM); Berlusconi and the «Turkish model» in the Mediterranean region; After the Arab Springs: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya;

6 The routs of the migrants Since the early 90s Italy is interested in the migratory phenomenon; The Italian government has adopted a policy of emergency and cooperation agreements with the countries of origin of the migrants and with the countries that lean out on the Mediterran sea; After the Arab Spring and the Sirian war, thousands of people escape in Europe. Turkey-Greece and Libya-Italy are importants routs for Europe;

7 Mare Nostrum Operation This operation was conducted by the Italian navy from 18 October 2013 to 31 Dicember It was an important operation because it rescued several migrants in the strait of Sicily; In November, Mare Nostrum has been replaced with the operation Triton, led by the European agency Frontex; These operations have given different results;

8 Differences among Mare Nostrum and Triton Mare Nostrum Triton Goal Rescue of people and sea security Border control People rescued More than More than 6000 Costs 9.5 million of euros per month 2.5 million of euros per month

9 Experiences from Lampedusa The citizens of Lampedusa collaborate with the Italian navy in order to rescue migrants; This cooperation has been important to rescue migrants in the sea;

10 Migrants: a resource for Italy? In Italy there are 2.3 million foreign workers; In an inquiry conducted by Il Sole 24 ore, it is observed how these workers increase the levels of occupation and lowers the average age of the country; An important example are Albanian people that are nowadays perfectly integated in the Italian society;

11 11 Economic crisis and racist populism in Europe

12 Economic crisis (2008) In 2008, the Economic Crisis had several repercussions on the Italian social, political and economic fabric with consequences still perceived today: ECONOMICS: The main economic consequences are high levels of Unemployment, a huge increase of the Poverty Rate, the increasing Government Debt rate; SOCIETY: The most significant social consequences are the growing difficulties for the Immigrants to find a good accomodation, acceptable incomes, social assistance by the governmental institutions and there is poor integration; POLITICS: There are also relevant political consequences on the Italian national party system. Populism is taking roots in many sectors of Society. Some parties, belonging to the extreme right wing, are using Racism, Common places and the public opinion s unrest in order to win the Political Elections.

13 13 6,2% UNEMPLOYMENT RATE 11,2% UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (16-24 YEARS OLD PEOPLE) 21,8% 37,9% ,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00%

14 4% 7% POVERTY RATE IN ITALY % 29% 40% Absolute Poverty Rate Relative Poverty Rate 2016 Medium-Low Income Medium -High Income Elevated Income

15 1,6 ITALIAN DEBT-TO-GDP 1,4 1, ,0% 132,5% 132,7% 135,4% 133,8% 116,1% 119,0% 120,1% 123,3% 106,5% 103,6% 106,3% 0,8 0,6 0,4 0, DEBITO/PIL

16 Immigration in Italy By the 90 s, the number of foreigners in Italy has sensibly grown; Between 1996 and 2006 the number of foreigners resident in Italy has passed from to (+ 474,6%); Between 2006 and 2016 the number of foreigners resident in Italy has increased from to (+ 47,2%); A first wide increment has followed by the entrance of Romania and Bulgaria in the EU in 2007; A second increase has been caused by the political upheaval in Maghreb, during the Arab Springs, in 2013;

17 Who are the foreigners residing in Italy? THE NUMBERS: The effective number of foreigners residing in Italy today is (ISTAT, 2016) Those people come from 5 main different areas: 1. Eastern Europe Area (43,05%) -> From Romania, Albania, Ucraina, Republic of Moldova, Poland, Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria; 2. Asia (18,12%) -> China, Philipphinas, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan; 3. North Africa Area (particularly Maghreb) (12,79%) -> From Marocco, Tunisia and Egypt; 4. South America (4,67%) -> From Perù, Ecuador, Brasil, Argentina; 5. Sub-Saharian Area (4,46%) (Sahel) -> Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana; 6. All the other countries (16,93%);

18 It transpires that the migrants have different identities and come from completely different geographical areas. THE REASONS: More than a half of them is between 25 and 45 years old. The 90% of the foreigners declare that they are residing in Italy in order to work. The 60% of them work in the construction industry sector, the 19% in the care for the elderly, the 12% in Agriculture Sector. THE QUALIFICATIONS: Their Educational Qualifications are pretty close to the Italian ones: the 40,6% of the Migrants has a Diploma or a Degree, as the 44,9% of the Italians. (Caritas, 2015) 18

19 Romania Albania Marocco Cina Ucraina Filippine India Repubblica Moldova Bangladesh Egitto Sri Lanka Pakistan Senegal Polonia Tunisia Ecuador Nigeria Repubblica di Macedonia Bulgaria

20 Italian political debate today: what patties say about it RIGHT-WING PARTIES: Xenophobic Politics, Racial discriminations and Anti-Immigration politics; LEGA NORD (Matteo Salvini) FRATELLI D ITALIA - ALLEANZA NAZIONALE (Giorgia Meloni) FORZA ITALIA (Silvio Berlusconi) NUOVO CENTRO DESTRA (Angelino Alfano) LEFT-WING PARTIES: Constructive Dialogue between diversities and European cooperation to face the Migration Crisis together: PARTITO DEMOCRATICO (Matteo Renzi) SINISTRA ITALIANA OTHER PARTIES MOVIMENTO 5 STELLE (Beppe Grillo): It has no official position.

21 Far-right propaganda Lega Nord and Fratelli D Italia Alleanza Nazionale are promoting a wide public campaign in the whole country to incentivate the social hate and racist ideology; These are both Eurosceptic parties, against Shengen and their aim is to endorse a discriminatory policy against the immigrants, to ratify a law for the forced return of the immigrants to their countries of origin and stop the Triton Operation;

22 On the other hand, there is also a party, the Movimento Cinque Stelle, that has not political opinion on the issue concerning the Migrants

23 Populism and xenophobia: a risk for Europe The current period is a hard one for Europe: Terrorism and populism spreading are undermining the will of the European National Government to find out common politics on the topic

24 All we need is a change of mind

25 Italy: a crossroad in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea

26 Between lending an helping hand...

27 ...and closing the door

28 Everything we know is, that in a World like this...

29 ...It s in the Mare Nostrum which a large part of our future is on the line

30 What did we vote for? We didn t vote for leaving the EU; We didn t vote against Matteo Renzi s government; We didn t vote for populist parties; We voted against a proposal of Constitutional amendement;

31 Actually... Since Matteo Renzi has put his neck on the line in december 2015 (It was not required): The opposition parties have started campaigning against the PM (forgetting the Constitution); Renzi himself has contributed to turning the Referendum into a plebiscite on his government s policies; Were people aware of what they were voting for?;

32 Nothing has changed (so far ) Italian Governement is almost the same; The composition of Italian Parliament is exactly the same; We haven t had any locust plague ; The risk of a future 5 Star Movement government would have been the same with a YES victory;

33 Happy 50th Birthday Europe!!! In 2017 three important elections will take place in the EU area: France, Germany and Netherlands (and Italy?); In 2018 will be, at the latest, the Italian turn to choose his new Parliament (and Government);

34 2018?

35 In any case...it s up to us to shape the future