Il Finacial Times English dedicates an article to Mario Draghi andItaly, seen by many Italian and foreign observers as a new reality capable of favoring and attracting multilateralism. Italy will chair the next G20 in Venice, a forum where high-income countries join together with major emerging economic powers such as China, India and Brazil. Rome is also co-president, with the United Kingdom, of COP26. The challenge among the G20 countries is to find a synthesis on common issues such as international taxation, the global vaccination campaign, economic recovery and climate change. "We are beginning to see for the first time so clearly a sequence that goes from the G7 to the G20 to the broader institutionalized multilateral diplomacy" like the OECD for taxes or the WTO for vaccine patents, he says Nathalie Tocci, director of theItalian Institute for International Affairs. Many of the world's biggest challenges are likely to be solved only if major rich countries agree with each other, before reaching an understanding with emerging powers. This makes the G20 the cornerstone of this "cascade multilateralism“, Says Tocci.
Observers of Italian foreign policy argue that the stature of Prime Minister Mario Draghi can make a difference in this new process. "Draghi has such a personal position, internationally, that his voice will be more relevant than the Italian one", points out Marta Dassu, former Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Under Draghi, Italian foreign policy "it has returned to a clear pro-Atlantic and pro-European line”Adds Dassù.
"The classic Italian strategy was to wait and see, a tendency not to take part in the conflict ", he claims Arturo Varvelli, Head of the Rome Office of the European Council for Foreign Relations. "Draghi understands that if you are not part of the game you are totally excluded from the negotiating table ". Draghi's Italy has established a clearer distance from countries such as Turkey, Russia and China. Dassù underlines that now Italy is finally using the "golden shares”To block Chinese acquisitions in sensitive and strategic sectors. Rome is also in full harmony with Joe Biden's United States in "reviving relations between the United States and Europe", where the United States will continue to guarantee the security of Europe and the Old Continent will oppose the foreign policy and economic ambitions of the China, says Varvelli.
Italian diplomacy is not based on the ability to attract countries but on the fact that "everyone likes us a little," says Tocci. Despite its colonial past in Africa, Italy does not arouse the same distrust as France or the United Kingdom. Italy could be today "the right country at the right time". The global role of Italy could also be important at home. Draghi on a par with Biden wants to spend a lot to support a sustainable recovery after the shock of the pandemic. "The choice to help the global recovery will be the common paradigm in the near future", Varvelli adds.