(by Fabio Squillante - Nova Agency ) An important meeting on the progress of the cooperation project in military shipbuilding between Fincantieri and Naval Group will be held in Rome tomorrow, February XNUMXst. For the Italian side, the meeting will be attended by the ministers of defense, Roberta Pinotti, of economic development, Carlo Calenda, of the economy, Pier Carlo Padoan, the CEO of Fincantieri, Giuseppe Bono, and the general secretary of defense, general Carlo Magrassi . For the French side, there will be the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, that of Defense, Florence Parly, the president and general manager of Naval Group, Hervé Guillou, and the general manager of armaments, Joel Barre. The meeting is important not so much for its contents - apparently there are no decisions to be taken - but rather for the emphasis that the French side gives it, and above all for the delicate context of relations between the two countries. A context of renewed tensions on many fronts: the Italian military mission in Niger, aimed at supporting that country and controlling the migratory flows between the Sahel and Libya; the application of the “Golden power” on Tim and its subsidiary Telecom Italia Sparkle; the control of Leonardo-Finmeccanica, which the French would like to merge (and dilute) with Airbus and Thales; and finally the so-called “Treaty of the Quirinale”, which should tie the destinies of Italy to those of France even more closely, without however aspiring to an equal relationship, similar to the Franco-German one.

Last year Fincantieri acquired control of Stx France, but in July the operation was blocked by President Emmanuel Macron, in the days when, however, Vivendi's French announced the takeover of Telecom Italia, and the Paris government suspended works on the Turin-Lyon high-speed line. At the same time, other frictions occurred on dossiers of strategic interest for Italy, such as the stabilization of Libya and the fight against human traffickers in the Mediterranean. The scale of the French initiative impressed our ruling class and prompted the government to a vigorous reaction. Migration flows were abruptly reduced, thanks to the action of the Minister of the Interior, Marco Minniti. Vivendi was placed tightly in control of Tim's strategic assets. The agreement with Fincantieri was renegotiated, also thanks to the tenacity of Bono, who obtained 50 percent plus 1 of the French yards, albeit with the decisive 1 percent rented for twelve years, pending the definitive acquisition. Lastly, with Niger, the sending of 470 men was recently agreed to train local forces to control the territory and the borders with Libya. In recent weeks, however, taking advantage of the dissolution of parliament and the electoral campaign, the French have taken the initiative on all fronts.

A bilateral treaty has been proposed to the outgoing government, led by Paolo Gentiloni, which, as far as we understand, should guarantee the coordination of the policies of the two countries on a political and economic level, but more concretely in that of the defense industry. For the preparation of the treaty, our government has not entrusted the Foreign Ministry but two private citizens, albeit authoritative former ministers: Franco Bassanini, advisor to the Prime Minister and president of Open Fiber, and Paola Severino, director of the Luiss university. It is also surprising that a step of such importance for the future geopolitical order of our country is decided by an outgoing government, as the president of the Forza Italia deputies, Renato Brunetta, underlined. The irritation of our French friends for the Italian mission in Niger emerged, however, in a transmission by a transalpine public broadcaster - Radio France internationale - which gave voice to an anonymous representative of the government of Niamey, according to which the government Nigerien would not have approved the mission. A nonsense immediately denied.

On the telecommunications front, Vivendi's shareholders first attempted an agreement with the government on "Golden power", then appealed against its application to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. This last move was preceded by rumors about the resignation of the new CEO of the group, the Israeli Amos Genish, and the - true - resignation of the president Giuseppe Cecchi, the only Italian among Vivendi's non-independent representatives on the board of directors, and therefore the only one who can have the powers on security and Telecom Sparkle. The extraordinary appeal to the president presents some risk, since it cannot be appealed, and it seems difficult that Mattarella could so blatantly deny a decision adopted by the Italian government, on the initiative of a minister as close to him as Carlo Calenda.

The most delicate front, at the moment, seems to be that of Leonardo. The French propose a three-way merger: Fincantieri, Naval Group and Thales: a possibility that worries the top of the Italian defense group, since the military and electronic supplies of our ships are largely guaranteed by the former Finmeccanica, which has Thales as a direct competitor in the industry. For this reason, the CEO of the group, Alessandro Profumo, fought to have Leonardo also included in the Italian-French cooperation. Since then the former banker, who came to Finmeccanica to avoid the stew, has become disliked by the transalpine partners. On 11 November, a rather ordinary revision of the industrial and budgetary objectives caused a 21% collapse of Leonardo's shares, and yesterday, Tuesday 30 January, after the presentation of the new business plan, the stock lost another 12 percent. Slips that would be justified if the group were in a pre-bankruptcy state, certainly not in the current situations of full sustainability. Increase the pressure on Italy was, by chance, the European Commission which on Thursday 25 January announced the opening of an infringement procedure against our country, for the orders assigned by the Navy and the Ministry of Economic Development to Fincantieri and Leonardo, on the basis of the naval law. A decision that now threatens our entire military industry.

It seems clear that the French are trying to take advantage of the distraction of our political system, due to the electoral campaign. Evidently in Paris there are fears that our next government may be less sensitive to their pressures, and we are therefore trying to accelerate on all fronts, in order to gain more ground. The French presence in Italy is already very strong, not only in terms of defense, but also in the banking, insurance, energy, transport, infrastructure, large-scale distribution, agri-food, fashion and luxury sectors. Precisely for this reason it would be good to approach games such as the "Quirinal Treaty" with greater prudence, waiting for the establishment of a government with full legitimacy and defending, in the meantime, Italian companies and our interests in Africa.