Italian Foreign Policy

Giovanni Brauzzi

with the cooperation of

Renato Benedetto
and
Alessandro Fabiocchi

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 • “... to clarify what had been the bases,
both material and moral, on which the
foreign policy rested, such as the forces
and sentiments which surrounded the
policy itself and also, in that historical
period, the diplomatic initiative.
• In other words, passions and affections,
ideas and ideologies, the situation of the
country and of its people, all that makes
the foreign policy a moment or an aspect
of the wider and more complex historical
process, which encompasses the whole
life of a nation and does not allow for
watertight compartments; a moment for
foreign relations which is intertwined
with the moral, economic, social and
religious life in the interior.”
Federico Chabod,
History of Italian Foreign Policy from
1870 to 1896
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 Material bases

• Geography
• Energy
• Population
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 Facts and Figures
• Area: 301,336 sq km
• Land boundaries: 1,932 km
• Coastline: 7,600 km
• Population (2005): 58.462.375
• Population Growth Rate : 1,1%
– birth rate: -18,396
– immigration rate: +181,080
• Life Expectancy at Birth: 79,25 years
• GDP – Composition by Sector:
– agriculture 2%
– industry 30%
– services 68%
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 ITALY ON THE MAIN MARKETS (%)
1995 2004
US 2,3 1,9
Latin America 3,3 2,5
EU 7,1 5,7
EU Candidates 10,5 10,5
Mediterranean 9,6 8,0
Countries
Middle East 6,6 5,2
China 1,9
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1,1 5
Italian Crude Oil Imports (2005)
ALGERI A I RAQ NORWAY
5% 5% 3%
LYBI A OTHERS
23% 15%

SAUDI
ARABI A
RUSSI A 14%
18% I RAN
SYRI A
4% 13%

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Italian Natural Gas Imports (2005)

LYBIA
2% THE NETHERLANDS
17%

RUSSIA NORWAY
36% 7%

NIGERIA
4%

ALGERIA
34%

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Italian Population in the XX
Century
(ISTAT 2005)
56,557 56,778
54,137
50,624
47,516

42,994
41,652
39,944
35,845
32,966

1901 1911 1921 1931 1936 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991

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Italian Population Projections
2010 - 2050
(ISTAT 2005)
60

58

56

54

52

50

48
2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050

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 THE CONSTITUTIONAL
FRAMEWORK

• Art. 11 of Italian Constitution: Italy rejects war

as an instrument of aggression against the
liberties of other people and as a means for
settling international controversies; it agrees,
on conditions of equality with other States, to
such limitations of sovereignty as may be
necessary for an international order aimed at
ensuring peace and justice among Nations; it
promotes and encourages international
organizations having such ends in view.
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The Multilateral Approach
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We the peoples of the United Nations,
determined to save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war….
….determined to safeguard the
freedom, common heritage and
civilisations of their peoples, founded
on the principles of democracy,
individual freedom and the rule of
law….
…an ever closer union among
the peoples of Europe……
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NATIONAL INTEREST

Few commodities and energy sources

Aging and shrinking population
We cannot keep our gates closed
Cultural and institutional pluralism
Universal vision
Lessons learnt from the past

thus
PURSUING NATIONAL INTEREST
THROUGH MULTILATERAL FORA
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The limitation of sovereignty
which is, for every country, the
price of the participation in an
integrated international system,
becomes less onerous
the more a country is able to
contribute genuinely to the
definition of the policy of
international fora

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 National Interest in
International Fora

Italian priorities
• Being part of the leading group in the
European integration process

• Strengthening transatlantic relations

• Avoiding marginalisation at the UN

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 Being part of the leading group
in the European integration process

• 25 March 1957-29 October 2004:

from Rome to Rome;
• Simultaneous widening and deepening;
• Union of people and states;
• Close the democratic gap;
• Principle of subsidiarity;
• European pillar of transatlantic relations;
• From the EDC to the ESDP;
• Being always part of the leading group, as
a vocation andGBaManchester
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The Way Ahead in the European Constitutional Process

•Still committed to the ratification and entry into force of

the European Constitutional Treaty;
•En attendant 2007 (elections in France and NL);
•50th anniversary of the Rome Treaty ;
•Premature to reopen the text before;
•Working on policies is not an alternative to institutional
developments;
•Ready to improvements made without changing the
Treaties;
•Defining Europe’s borders would be helped by a
constitutional dimension of the integration process.
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 Strengthening New members,
the transatlantic link New partners,
New capabilities,
Enduring commitment
From Cold War
to new threats Coalitions
of the willing
are not enough

From the Balkans

Relaunch
to Afghanistan:
NATO’s
the arc of crisis
Political Dimension
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 Complex challenges of international
security
Illegal immigration Nuclear
Proliferation

Terrorism
Failed, rogue states

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 Troops engaged in international missions (updated 10/03/06)

8.411 military engaged in 28 missions in 19 countries

and 3 geographic areas

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 Avoiding marginalisation and
oligarchic backsliding at the UN

World Government vs. Global Governance;

Effective Multilateralism;
Criteria for the use of force;
National sovereignty, democracy and human rights;
Agenda for peace and agenda for development;
A role for the European Union;
UNSC Reform.

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 The compass of
Italian foreign policy
• North, towards Europe;
• South, towards the
Mediterranean, the
Middle East and Africa;
• East, towards the
Balkans and Russia;
• West, towards America
and globalisation.
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 Farnesina

Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Facts and Figures

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REPRESENTATIONS ABROAD (2005)

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GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF THE EMBASSIES
(2005)

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 DIPLOMATIC-CONSULAR NETWORK, STAFF AND
BUDGET OF THE MINISTRIES OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
A COMPARISON IN EUROPE (year 2004)
Diplomatic/consular Staff Budget
network
ITALY 338 8.245 1.561

FRANCE 430 17.231 2.175

GERMANY 347 13.210 2.215

UNITED 453 16.000 2.520

KINGDOM
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A provocative conclusion

…the dividing line between progressive and

reactionary … falls along a very new and
substantial line: those who conceive the essential
purpose and goal of struggle as being the ancient
one, the conquest of national political power, and
who, although involuntarily, play into the hands of
reactionary forces, letting the incandescent lava of
popular passions set in the old moulds, and thus
allowing old absurdities to arise once again, and
those who see the main purpose as the creation of
a solid international State, who will direct popular
forces towards this goal, and who, even if they
were to win national power, would use it first and
foremost as an instrument for achieving
international unity.

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the foundation must be built
now for a movement that knows
how to mobilize all forces for
the birth of the new organism
which will be the grandest
creation, and the newest, that
has occurred in Europe for
centuries; in order to constitute
a steady federal State, that will
have at its disposal a European
armed service instead of
national armies; that will break
decisively economic autarkies,
the backbone of totalitarian
regimes; that will have
sufficient means to see that its
deliberations for the
maintenance of common order
are executed in the individual
federal states, while each State
will retain the autonomy it
needs for a plastic articulation
and development of political life
according to the particular
characteristics of the various
peoples.
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 If a sufficient number of men in the main European
countries understand this, then victory will soon fall into
their hands, since both circumstances and opinion will be
favourable to their efforts. They will have before them
parties and factions that have already been disqualified
by the disasterous experience of the last twenty years.
Since it will be the moment for new action, it will also be
the moment for new men: the MOVEMENT FOR A FREE
AND UNITED EUROPE.

Altiero Spinelli, Ventotene (Italy) 1941

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Do we have better alternatives for Europe ?
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