Italy-France, Darnis (University of Nice): “Great phase of reconciliation, but creating antibodies”

Sergio Mattarella’s state visit to Paris “is the symbol of the great phase of reconciliation” between Italy and France, but bearing in mind that the bilateral scenario is always “subject to instability”, which is why it is necessary to create “antibodies” to avoid new crisis situations such as that of 2019. Jean Pierre Darnis, professor of the history of Italian-French relations at the University of Nice and scientific advisor of the Iai, comments in these terms the visit of the President of the Republic, which seals the new season of relations between the two countries, after the tensions following the meeting of the then Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio with the yellow vests and the differences over Libya. Season that must become “structural” and this will be the purpose of the Treaty of the Quirinale, which hopefully will be signed within the year. “This visit is the symbol of the great phase of reconciliation which he himself initiated in 2019 with his visit to Chambord”, on the occasion of the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death, three months after the diplomatic incident that led to the recall of the ambassador to Rome, emphasizes Darnis, according to whom Mattarella “also had a rather original role for a president of the Italian Republic, maintaining an active diplomacy”. Not only that: according to the professor from Nice, “this second visit is also a sort of honor paid and thanks granted to the head of state, who in these two years has led Italy from a conflictual relationship to an agreement with France. , is a great recognition of his personality “. ‘Quirinal Treaty to solve problems before they explode’ All this does not mean, however, that there cannot still be some shadow in the relationship between Rome and Paris: in the meantime, explains Darnis, the agenda of the president of the Repubblica, with Europe and Africa in the foreground, “is not that of everyday Italian politics, and certainly the bilateral scenario is always subject to instability, which may be the issue of migrants, on which no a real European agreement has been found, or economic issues, as the FTX-Fincantieri dossier has recently demonstrated “. Therefore, it is the analysis of the Iai advisor, “the moment is good, but it cannot be left to itself, antibodies must be created to pass to a different truly structural cycle”. And in this context the difference can be made by the Treaty of Quirinale, which follows the one with the Elysée between France and Germany and which should serve “to solve problems before they explode”, precisely on the model of what happens in the relationship between Berlin and Paris. However, Darnis admits, on the document “there are different and parallel visions between the diplomacies of the two countries: Italy would like to structure it in projects, while France would like to resume the Franco-German model, which has worked and works very well, creating a series of more consolidated bilateral mechanisms “. “It is a problem that must be solved, at a political level, if necessary”, says the professor of the University of Nice, for which it is necessary to avoid at all costs that “this opportunity is not fully seized”.