Valdai Club

Nostalgia for a role in shaping order in the Mediterranean should not be interpreted as a desire to realise lingering imperial dreams. If anything, it is a sign of a weakness on the part of a state that has had to deal with consequences of instability in the region, writes Valdai Club expert Vincent Della Sala.

Most people in Italy will not think that 21 January was a day different from any other this year. But there will be pockets of celebration amongst those who will look back to the day 100 years ago when the Italian Communist Party (PCI, Partito Comunista Italiano) was founded, not just with nostalgia but also pride and recognition of a political party that shaped modern Italy.

There may not be many celebrations to mark the historic occasion of Rome once again being the political centre of the peninsula, but it does not mean that the country is tearing at the seams. Indeed, the Covid crisis has surprised even many Italians by the sense of civic engagement and responsibility that allowed the country to avoid an even greater tragedy.

Defence ministers left Brussels most likely relieved and pleased that they had defused another explosive question, but their relief is likely to be short-lived.

We should not think that the anniversary celebrations in London will be the last for NATO. Despite all its internal tensions and growing mutual suspicion, security cooperation is hard-wired in the foreign and security infrastructure of its member states. With the exception of the United States and possibly Turkey, it is difficult for NATO’s member states to imagine any other security architecture.

Elections in Europe have become complex affairs, combining issues that are important for the national arena but have serious consequences for European Union (EU) decisions and vice versa: decisions at the European level shape national debates and politics.

On 7 February, the French government recalled its ambassador to Rome as a sign of its displeasure over the numerous forays the current Italian government has made into the domestic affairs of its European partner. It came only a few days after the EU failed to establish a common position on the Venezuelan crisis because the Italian government refused to endorse a call for elections.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker came from his meeting with US President Donald Trump on  July 25 with a commitment by both sides to work on agreement to remove trade barriers on non-auto industrial goods and reform the international trade system, including the WTO. However, the optimism may be short-lived, since as we approach the mid-term elections in November and the start of the next presidential election cycle in 2019, it is more likely that the EU will be considered a kind of “foe”.

The European Union’s budgetary process, like that of all states, is much more than just a simple accounting exercise aiming to match expenditures and revenues. It is a crucial political process that not only sets out policy objectives but also says something about what is the nature of the political community and what sort of future it wants to map out for itself.

Italians will head to the electoral booths on Sunday, March 4, to vote in parliamentary elections. The elections come at the end of the five-year mandate of the current legislature despite the fact that no clear majority emerged after the last elections in February 2013.