Where will Matteo Renzi's aggressive European strategy take us and what are its real objectives? After the amazement of the first moment aroused not only in Italy but in all the European chancelleries by the barrage of matches vigorously opened by the premier on the European chessboard during the last EU summit, everyone wonders about the next steps and the outcome of an unprecedented confrontation between Italy, the European Commission and Germany that cannot finish in the space of one morning.
We may or may not agree with the tactic adopted by Renzi to assert Italy's reasons in the European arena, but we must agree that the Italian premier cannot but be fully aware of three crucial points: 1) that there is a substantial difference between discussions between friends at the bar and political discussions and that, if in the first wins whoever screams the most, in politics there is an obligation to bring home results, which is the only thing that matters; 2) that what was launched at the last European summit was an extraordinary image operation which cut the grass under the feet of all the Italian opposition and which interpreted a malaise towards a soulless Europe which is widespread in the country but not only here, as we saw in the recent regional elections in France; 3) that Italy, with the mistrust that its very high public debt arouses above all in Germany, cannot lead the palingenesis of Europe but can win important battles, provided that it knows how to lead them with clarity of objectives, with a wise policy of alliances and with the predisposition to search for reasonable compromises, which are not a scandal but - on the contrary - the salt of politics.
The battle against the automatic renewal of anti-Russia sanctions, the refusal to uncritically endorse the doubling of the North Stream gas pipeline dear to Germany and the Netherlands, a more supportive and more efficient immigration policy, a banking policy that gives savers security and confidence with the European guarantee on deposits, a budgetary policy that ensures greater margins of flexibility as a function of greater attention to growth rather than one-way austerity are all very important objectives and Renzi did very well to put them on the table, but those objectives are too many and no one can really think of winning across the board. Here is the importance of setting priorities and building alliances and compromises.
Although the prime minister attacks and shakes the tree playing hole cards, one does not go far from the truth imagining that at this moment for Renzi the priorities of the priorities in European politics are mainly two: flexibility and trust. Flexibility is needed to carry out a Stability Law and a budget policy that accompanies the incipient recovery and confidence in the banks is needed to erase the fear that runs through savers, which frightens the markets and which can undermine the recovery.
But if that is the case, Renzi is the first to know that a course correction, however partial, of European rigorism of German origin cannot be achieved with machetes and least of all with a head-on collision with Angela Merkel. It is with her, even before with Juncker, that an honorable compromise must be sought with respect to which Renzi not only has to ask but also has a lot to give. The golden opportunity – as Veronica De Romanis wrote on FIRSTonline on Thursday – came from the Chancellor's speech at her party congress where Merkel rejected the hawks' offensive on immigration but explicitly asked the Europe a hand on checks and arrival ceilings. Renzi can and must give him this hand and, by virtue of this and with the support primarily of Hollande's France, he can ask that Germany honor the agreements signed upon signing the banking union and remove the veto on the European guarantee on bank deposits, as also requested by the president of the ECB Mario Draghi.
It will take time to get to the finish line, but this virtuous exchange between Italy and Germany is the only one that can get Europe back on track before populism and nationalism do more damage. Merkel has made an appointment with Renzi in Berlin for February. In these hours, peace amidst change seems so far away but, after the storm, realism and dialogue can open the doors to a new spring that Europe needs like bread.
