Gentiloni-Trump: nothingness, clothed with courtesy (and Italy remains Italy)

(To Giampiero Venturi)
21/04/17

The first bilateral meeting between the Italian Prime Minister and President Trump ends zero to zero. It was to be expected; after all what was said by Gentiloni in Washington is part of a good speech for each time and for each president. A chat in the name of "little I hold, little dongo" that in all probability both would have been spared. The final declarations by Gentiloni suggest that the Atlantic axis between the US and Europe has strengthened.

On the question the debate is open. The cooling of relations with Europe and the abandonment of the Atlantic line that the US has trod from 1945 onwards, was the sword of Damocles imposed on the world by Trump's electoral campaign. Uncle Donald's lashings against the Union and NATO took place for a year, leading to doubt and obsession with the circles linked to the old Atlantic equilibrium. In less than three months the new president had to reassure America and not only from the shadow of the Russiagate, replacing the most exposed figures (Flynn and Bannon above all) and publicly taking a step back from the new horizons that seemed to point. Basically, in a few weeks, Trump's staff has taken over the president's position on an "anti-riot" position, far more politically correct for the transatlantic political lobbies of which Washington is the pivot. What is true however, does not always correspond to what is seen.

That the US understands it with Russia more than it is convenient to make believe, it is evident. Suffice it to say that Exxon, through the Secretary of State Tillerson (her former manager) has specifically asked to circumvent the sanctions in Moscow to tighten with the Russian Rosneft. The statements of Gentiloni then, are a refrain already heard, which leave Italy in the role of puppy of the Alliance, always ready to run and adapt. The feeling is that once again the important games are done elsewhere.

Despite the meeting's whimsy, however, we expected some reassurance on the scenarios that are dearer to us and that directly involve our daily life. Just the Exxon-Rosneft affair catapults us on the Libyan framework: Trump, to the delight of our premier, said that the US will not engage directly. How to say: "now it's up to you to solve the mess". Rome, which on the question of immigration holds much to the rank of the most good of the realm, remains with the hand in hand: the wrongs of the Mediterranean and the African side are our stuff. The opportunity would also be greedy if it were not that the budget constraints mentioned by Gentiloni will prevent us in the coming years to go beyond the symbolic presence in Africa and the completion of the ferry service to which our Navy was obliged. To be protagonists in the form that the delegation and the trumpian disengagement allow us we would need weight and a geopolitical continuity that we have not with any evidence.

Rumors speak of the Trump project to organize a summit between Haftar and Al Serraj, the two protagonists of the Libyan crisis already intercepted by Moscow. The American disengagement in Libya would therefore be military but not political and economic. At the next ceremony of the bell, the gentle Gentiloni will pass the baton, but the substance will be identical.

We are part of a system that does not include even short-term projects. We will take care of our interests once again on the basis of those of others.