Fincantieri, Leonardo and the new tensions between Rome and Paris

(To Fabio Squillante - Nova Agency)
31/01/18

Tomorrow, February 1st, an important meeting will be held in Rome on the progress of the cooperation project in the military shipbuilding between Fincantieri and Naval Group. For the Italian part, the meeting will be attended by the Ministers of Defense, Roberta Pinotti, Economic Development, Carlo Calenda, the Economy, Pier Carlo Padoan, the CEO of Fincantieri, Giuseppe Bono, and the Secretary General of Defense, General Carlo Magrassi . For the French side there will be the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, the Defense, Florence Parly, the president and general manager of Naval Group, Hervé Guillou, and the Director General of Armaments, Joel Barre. The meeting is important not so much for the contents - it turns out there are no decisions to be made - but rather for the emphasis that the French side attributes to it, and above all for the delicate context of relations between the two countries. A context of renewed tensions on many fronts: the Italian military mission in Niger, aimed at propping up that country and controlling the migration flows between Sahel and Libya; the application of the "Golden power" on Tim and its subsidiary Telecom Italia Sparkle; the control of Leonardo-Finmeccanica, which the French would have fused (and diluted) with Airbus and Thales; and finally the so-called "Treaty of the Quirinale", which should link even more closely the destinies of Italy to those of France, without however being able to aspire to an equal relationship, similar to the Franco-German one.

Last year Fincantieri acquired control of Stx France, but in July the operation was blocked by President Emmanuel Macron, in the days when, moreover, the Vivendi French announced the taking over of Telecom Italia, and the Paris government suspended work on the Turin-Lyon high-speed line. At the same time, other frictions took place on dossiers of strategic interest for Italy, such as the stabilization of Libya and the fight against human traffickers in the Mediterranean. The breadth of the French initiative impressed our ruling class and pushed the government to a vigorous reaction. The migratory flows were abruptly reduced, thanks to the action of the Minister of the Interior, Marco Minniti. At Vivendi, strict limits were imposed in the control of Tim's strategic assets. The agreement with Fincantieri was renegotiated, also thanks to the tenacity of Bono, which obtained the 50 per cent plus 1 of the French shipyards, albeit with the decisive 1 percent rented for twelve years, awaiting the definitive acquisition. Finally, with Niger, it has recently been agreed to send 470 men with the task of training local forces, in the activities of territorial control and borders with Libya. In recent weeks, however, taking advantage of the dissolution of parliament and the electoral campaign, the French have resumed the initiative on all fronts.

The outgoing government, led by Paolo Gentiloni, has been proposed a bilateral treaty which, it seems understandable, should ensure coordination of the policies of the two countries on the political and economic level, but more concretely in that of the defense industry. Of the preparation of the treaty, our government has not instructed the Foreign Ministry, but two private citizens, although authoritative former ministers: Franco Bassanini, councilor of the Presidency of the Council and president of Open Fiber, and Paola Severino, director of the Luiss University. It is also surprising that a step of such importance for the future geopolitical structure of our country is decided by an outgoing government, as underlined by the president of the Forza Italia deputies, Renato Brunetta. The irritation of our French friends for the Italian mission in Niger emerged, instead, in a broadcast of a public transalpine station - Radio France internationale - which gave voice to an anonymous representative of the government of Niamey, according to whom the government nigerino would not have approved the mission. A fandonia immediately denied.
On the telecommunications front, Vivendi shareholders first attempted an agreement with the government on "Golden power", then appealed against its application to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. This last move was preceded by rumors about the resignation of the new CEO of the group, the Israeli Amos Genish, and the resignation - real - of the president Giuseppe Cecchi, the only Italian among non-independent representatives of Vivendi in Cda, and therefore the only one to have the delegations on security and Telecom Sparkle. The extraordinary appeal to the president presents some risk, since it is not appealable, and it seems difficult that Mattarella can so disprove a decision taken by the Italian government, on the initiative of a minister close to him like Carlo Calenda.

At the moment, the most delicate front seems to be that of Leonardo. The French propose a merger of three: Fincantieri, Naval Group and Thales: an event that worries the top of the Italian defense group, since the military and electronic supplies of our ships are largely guaranteed by the former Finmeccanica, which has Thales as a direct competitor in the sector. For this reason, the group's CEO, Alessandro Profumo, fought to ensure that Leonardo was also included in the Italian-French cooperation. Since then the former banker, who arrived in Finmeccanica to avoid the stew, has become unpopular with the transalpine partners. The November 11 last a rather ordinary revision of the industrial and budgetary targets caused a collapse of 21 percent of Leonardo's shares, and yesterday, Tuesday 30 January, after the presentation of the new industrial plan, the title lost another 12 percent. Scivoloni that would be justified if the group was in pre-bankruptcy, certainly not in current situations of full sustainability. To increase the pressure on Italy was, by chance, the European Commission that on Thursday 25 January announced the opening of an infringement procedure against our country, for the orders assigned by the Navy and the Ministry of Economic Development to Fincantieri and Leonardo, on the basis of the naval law. A decision that now threatens our entire military industry.

It seems clear that the French are trying to take advantage of the distraction of our political system, due to the election campaign. Evidently in Paris it is feared that our next government may be less sensitive to their pressures, and therefore we are trying to speed up on all fronts, so as to still gain ground. The French presence in Italy is already very strong, not only in terms of defense, but also in the banking, insurance, energy, transport, infrastructure, large-scale distribution, agribusiness, fashion and luxury sectors. Precisely for this reason it would be good to approach with greater caution such as the "Quirinale Treaty", waiting for the establishment of a government with full legitimacy and defending, in the meantime, Italian companies and our interests in Africa.

(photo: Présidence de la République française)