Max Ferrari: Italy’s and EU’s objectives in Tunisia at odds
A stable and prosperous Tunisia is Italy’s dream, but is it also the dream of the EU? There are reasons to doubt this. After the terrible experience of the so-called Arab Spring and the disastrous international operation in Libya, what Rome fears most is the opening of new fronts of instability on the North African shores of the Mediterranean
Notoriously, Rome is beyond the limits of its capacities and possibilities for welcoming migrants arriving by sea and, for this reason, the improvident way in which Brussels has handled the Tunisian dossier seems incredible.
Instead of rejoicing at the arrival of a democratically legitimized president who has embarked on a path of reform and has marginalized the Muslim Brotherhood, the global left, which has always maneuvered with the latter, has begun work to delegitimize Kais Saied, presenting him as a sort of xenophobic dictator. The measures to combat illegal immigration conceived by the leaders of Tunis before the phenomenon becomes uncontrollable have been presented by Europe’s leftist media as violent and racist, whose only motivation is not security but a hatred of those who arrive from sub-Saharan Africa.
This defamatory narrative has been used to question the International Monetary Fund’s proposed loans to the Tunisian government. This is a maneuver motivated by political reasons, not financial ones. The EU should have every interest, even if only out of pure selfishness, to help Tunis.
Incredibly, however, the EU’s “foreign minister,” Josep Borrell, explained that, yes, Europe could autonomously lend a hand to the Tunisian government, but it would not do so until it has implemented the reforms requested by the IMF.
In Italy, which is accustomed to this type of “warning” from Brussels, everyone understands that it is a matter of blackmail that the leaders of a sovereign country can hardly accept. All the Italian government’s parties have expressed themselves so that Rome does everything possible to convince Brussels to help Tunis without being influenced by the IMF.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said: “Let’s not make the mistake of leaving Tunisia in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood. We have to help Tunis with funding from the IMF and the World Bank. It is not up to us to decide who governs in Tunisia, there is a legitimate government, we must respect our interlocutors, not replace them; we are not colonizers.”
On the difference of views with Northern Europe and the Americans, he added: “We support a compromise solution. We must immediately give at least initial support because, without money, no reform is possible and the financial emergency fuels that of migrants.”
After a meeting in Rome with his Tunisian counterpart Nabil Ammar this month, Tajani reinforced his thoughts, saying: “I would not like that, behind a few rows of liberals, there are legions of fundamentalists who would not do good for democracy and human rights, as in the Arab Spring.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has launched an ambitious plan, known as “Piano Mattei,” for Italy’s rapprochement with Africa. It is based on cooperation and synergies, and one of the main pivots of this project in North Africa is Algeria, which has a special bond with Tunis.
Can we think of building something so ambitious and letting others make the ground slip beneath the feet of our partners? We have already experienced this type of “democratic” interventionism in Libya, for which Rome is still suffering the consequences. And, at the time of the Giuseppe Conte-Democratic Party government in 2021, we saw how another outburst of so-called democratic zeal damaged the historically excellent relations between Rome and the UAE and between Rome and Saudi Arabia, with vague pretexts regarding the war in Yemen.
These damaged relations have been dramatically improved by Meloni. However, Brussels has appointed as EU envoy to the Gulf precisely the same Luigi Di Maio who, as Italian foreign minister, was the architect of these disagreements. The Italian government took this appointment as an affront, while Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s League party declared that “the EU has made a shameful choice, which does not take into account the will expressed by the vote of the Italian people and which is an insult to Italy.”
It should be known that the Italian government is under special surveillance from within the EU, which is dominated (for now) by the left. From the outset of Meloni’s term, in addition to the inevitable accusations of fascism, xenophobia and the like, there was also the accusation of siding with Russia.
The facts have shown that, on the Ukraine issue, Italy has followed its NATO allies and European partners at every juncture, at the cost of enormous sacrifices from an economic point of view — lost exports, skyrocketing energy costs, etc. — and knowing that it is not from Siberia that the vital dangers to Rome come.
READ: Muslim Brotherhood leader in Tunisia arrested over video
Italy understands the reasons for Warsaw’s and Riga’s actions, but Italy is not Poland and it is not on the Baltic Sea. Our vital center of interest is the Mediterranean and it was assumed that our great engagement in the Ukrainian question would be “rewarded” with the granting of more room for maneuver in this arena. In fact, Rome has all the credentials to act as a leader — or, at the least, not as a follower of Berlin — in designing cooperation and security strategies in the Mediterranean, particularly its western portion. Apparently, however, this new Italian role is not liked by some and every occasion is used to create large waves on what the Romans called Mare Nostrum. But the game is so open that everyone notices it.
READ: Italy offers cash to Tunisia for reforms, urges IMF deal adopted
On April 21, for example, the Libero newspaper reported: “The fact that (US President) Joe Biden sided with the Muslim Brotherhood after the arrest of their leader Rached Ghannouchi could jeopardize the anti-migrant agreement that was about to be signed between Europe and Tunisia to avoid illegal departures.” Three days later, La Verita stated: “The European left is rooting against Saied but this will throw Tunisia into the abyss … The Party of European Socialists stands with the party close to the Muslim Brotherhood and the risk of an Arab Spring with a migratory bomb is real.”
Will the Italians protest? And will the actions of our government influence this intricate dossier in any way? We hope so, because if this were not to be the case, it would be a demonstration that, in terms of democracy and respect for the will of the people, the EU has absolutely nothing to teach Tunis.
Max Ferrari is a journalist and politician. He is a former parliamentary journalist, a war correspondent in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, and director of a TV channel. He is an expert in geopolitics and energy policy. Twitter: @MaxFerrari
This article originally appeared in Arab News
