Med Dialogues, cea de-a opta ediție a conferinței internaționale organizate de Italia, s-a încheiat la Roma. Italia a lansat dialogurile anuale în 2015 cu scopul ambițios de a „depăși haosul” și de a propune o „agenda pozitivă” în Marea Mediterană extinsă.
Over 40 sessions and 200 speakers from 60 countries discussed a large number of issues also linked to the repercussions of the war in Ukraine on the region, particularly in terms of energy and food security.
The 2022 conference opened with a greeting from the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and speeches by Antonio Tajani, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and International Cooperation; by Mohamed Bazoum, President of Niger; Mohamed Cheikh el Ghazouani, President of Mauritania; and Giampiero Massolo, President of the Institute for International Political Studies.
The event was attended by high-level representatives from across the wider Mediterranean region, as well as representatives of several relevant international organizations. The speech by Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister, closed the Med Dialogues.
The salient points
Meloni said, “We cannot manage migratory flows alone. EU commitment is needed on repatriations.”
The President of the Council relaunched the need for effective implementation of the commitments made by Europe through migration cooperation with African partners, saying, “Italy should be the promoter of a Mattei plan for Africa.”
Principiile
Between the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, President Mattei, founder of ENI (Ente Nazionale Hydrocarbon), a state-controlled body, offered very helpful conditions to African oil and gas-producing countries, intending to strengthen his company and rescue them from the exploitation of the Seven Sisters, an expression used by Mattei to indicate multinational oil companies, such as the US Exxon, Mobil, Texaco, Standard Oil of California (SOCAL), Gulf Oil, the Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, and British Petroleum, which until the oil crisis had a dominant role on the crude oil market.
According to Mattei, these companies “were used to consider consumer markets as hunting reserves for their monopolistic policy.” Instead, the President of ENI changed the paradigm, guaranteeing African states the most revenues and overcoming the rule in force until then of a 50/50 split between oil companies and producing countries.
Meloni said: “Italy is strongly committed to this government to strengthen its role in the Mediterranean. We face too many epochal challenges. Italy has always been the promoter of a constructive approach.” From the stage of the Med Dialogues, promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ISPI, PM Meloni, relaunched the effort of collaboration with the entire Mediterranean area, a strategic element of the executive’s moves. He said, “Dialogue is important for Italy. We must also tell ourselves that, if you like, Italy was a forerunner of this strategy as this conference demonstrates very well.”
The reminder: we cannot manage migration flows alone
Then the gaze shifted to migration policies and Italy’s stance which, speaking at the international appointment now in its eighth edition, the Prime Minister reaffirmed once again, “One of the main challenges is that of migration.
“The Mediterranean needs to be perceived not as a place of death caused by human traffickers. Obviously more Europe is needed on the southern front as Italy has been claiming for some time. We [Italy] alone cannot manage a flow of unmanageable dimensions.”
Over 94,000 migrant arrivals since the beginning of the year
Meloni then rattled off the numbers of the Italian effort on the migration front: “With over 94,000 arrivals since the beginning of 2022, Italy, together with the other countries of first entry, is bearing the greatest burden in protecting Europe’s external borders in the face of human trafficking in the Mediterranean.
“For the first time, the central Mediterranean route was considered a priority in a document of the European Commission, and I consider this a victory.
“It had never happened and probably would not have happened if Italy had not raised two questions: respect for international law, and the need to address the phenomenon of migration at a structural level.”
The appeal made by the premier to Europe was for “a common commitment of all of the states of the European Union on one side, and of the states of the southern shore of the Mediterranean on the other.
“Therefore, we ask that Europe relaunch an effective implementation of the commitments done for too long through migration cooperation with our partners in Africa and the Mediterranean who must be more involved in preventing and combating human trafficking.”
The PM’s suggestion: Italy should be the promoter of a Mattei plan for Africa.
The principles of the Mattei Plan
“Our prosperity is not possible if there is not that of our neighbors, too,” continues Meloni. “In my inaugural speech to the Chambers, I spoke of the need for Italy to promote a Mattei plan for Africa, a virtuous model of growth for the EU and for African nations, respectful of mutual interests based on a development that knows how to exploit the potential of each one, so that Italy «does not have a predatory posture towards other nations but a cooperative one.”
Representing a leading nation reiterated the PM, “is the role we would like to have” also “to counter the spread of extremist radicalism, especially in the sub-Saharan area.”
The stabilization of Libya is among the most urgent priorities
Then there was a passage on Libya. “The full and lasting stabilization of Libya certainly represents one of the most urgent priorities of foreign policy and national security” also in terms of migratory flows and energy supplies. We from here, we want to renew our invitation to Libyan political actors to commit themselves to equip the country with solid and democratically legitimized institutions.
“Only a Libyan-led process, with the support of the United Nations, can lead to a full and lasting solution to the crisis in the country.”
Expanded Mediterranean pillar of energy security
As for Italy’s role, the message from the Prime Minister is very clear. “Italy is the hinge and natural energy bridge between the Mediterranean and Europe by virtue of a particular geostrategic position – its infrastructures and the precious contribution also made by its own companies,” Meloni clarified, not before highlighting that “the enlarged Mediterranean is the pillar of Italian energy security.”
The Premier concluded, “Energy is a national good, but also inclusive and, therefore, common. It is a theme on which cooperation is made for the good of all the nations that participate in it.”
