(by Massimiliano D'Elia) The case of the Diciotti ship was yet another proof that made it clear who really dictates the rules in Europe. The "Sherpas" the other day, who met urgently in Brussels, did not respond to Italy's requests for a structural program for the relocation of migrants (many say that that day during the important meeting in Brussels, Macron and Merkel were to the sea for a rest period). Nobody wants the hot potato of the management of migratory flows and the consequent relocation. Merkel herself, when, in the recent past, she tried to open up to relocations, she had to suffer bitter internal opposition that made her leadership falter. The result? Intransigence with migratory flows. France, "in words", seemed to be the most inclined to comply with Italy's requests. Too bad that in Ventimiglia he used the "truncheon" to repel those who tried to cross the border. Not to mention the aggressive politics in North Africa, Libya in the lead where Italy thinks it is rooted and popular. It is a pity that France in Libya always manages to prevail and influence the choices of the one who commands south of Tripoli, General Haftar. Haftar manages the southern borders where most of the migrants come from and where Italy has also recently lost control of Fezzan https://www.prpchannel.com/mondo/libia-salta-accordo-del-fezzan-litalia-rimane-a-mani-vuote-ce-lo-zampino-della-francia/
France, however, "Europeanist in its own way" has never accepted the German request to put in the ECB the proceeds it receives annually from the former African colonies. Let's talk about at least 500 billion euros that the French Treasury pockets thanks to the CFA currency, For more information: https://www.prpchannel.com/mondo/la-politica-coloniale-francese-sottobanco-in-africa-14-le-ex-colonie-che-pagano-la-gabella/
Germany is not far behind
Italy Today, on 27 March last, he reported in a beautiful article the German energy strategy he is implementing with Moscow, ignoring the sanctions against Russia and the EU Commission's "niet".
Last March, the German authority responsible for the matter, after carrying out for months the environmental and commercial investigations on the sustainability of the Russian-German North Stream 2 gas pipeline, released the final verdict, authorizing its construction. This was revealed by the euractiv.com website, which accounts for it in great detail.
The new pipeline, 1.225 kilometers long, will directly connect Russian gas fields with Germany, passing under the North Sea and the Baltic, and will run 85 kilometers on German territory. In order to assess the sustainability of this last stretch, the German Federal Agency for Navigation and Hydrography was called upon to provide its binding opinion, which was positive. More than the technical aspects, however, it is the political ones that make an impression in this story, which appears as a concentration of contradictions.
The first contradiction is under the eyes of everyone: just as 22 EU countries expel a hundred Russian embassy staff in protest over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain, and while economic sanctions against Vladimir Putin's Russia persist for what happened in Crimea and in the Donbass in recent years, Ms. Angela Merkel's Germany does not care about sanctions and the poisoned spy, and proceeds like a tank in the construction of a pipeline destined to double the supply of Russian gas to Germany, which is now insufficient. of the North Stream 1, in operation for years.
As is known, the North Stream 2 project had been frowned upon from the outset by the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), Poland and Ukraine, as the pipeline would have allowed Putin's Russia to bypass these countries, especially Ukraine, no longer subject to the risk of supply interruptions or tiring negotiations on the price of transit. Not only. Several times the United States, since the days of Barack Obama's presidency, had urged Europe to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, with the declared intention of reducing monetary revenues in favor of Putin. A full-blown gas war, which Italy mainly paid for, which had to give up the construction of the South Stream.
Ms. Merkel, however, ignored the opposition of the various countries opposed to North Stream 2, did not give a damn about the American vetoes, and left a free hand to the German companies that carried out the negotiations with the Russian Gazprom. And when the Chancellor was questioned on the merits of this matter, emphasizes euractiv.com, she limited herself to observing that North Stream 2 is only "an economic project", which does not require any political intervention. A shameless lie, given that even the EU Commission has long taken sides against North Stream 2, deemed "unnecessary", in a "diversified and safe" European energy policy framework.
Not only. Precisely to reduce dependence on Russian gas, the EU Commission proposed in 2017 a directive with more stringent rules: subjecting every new pipeline for importing gas to EU approval; prohibition for gas suppliers (such as Gazprom) to also own the pipeline directly; non-discriminatory tariffs; transparent operations; finally, the provision to third parties of at least 10% of the transport capacity.
Do you know what happened to the draft of this directive? Failed in the trunk. But not by Germany. At least not directly. Rather on the initiative of the legal service of the European Council of Heads of State and Government, which opposed the initiative of the EU Commission on the basis of a thesis destined to cause debate for months, perhaps for years: namely that the European Union does not it has jurisdiction over the pipelines that cross the "exclusive economic zones" (EEZ) of the 28 member states. As it happens, an opinion that seems tailor-made for the 85 km of the North Stream 2 that will pass over German territory. Now is it clear to you what is the use of controlling the bureaucracy in Brussels, as Germany does? Are you clear who is in charge in Europe, even in spite of its directives?
It is clear that Italy cannot ignore the EU, however it must open its eyes and try to place the best men in the EU institutional structures to try to bring water to its own mill from within. In foreign policy it must start looking elsewhere. Minister Tria's visit to China is good. Russia, the US and India are also to be cultivated to attract investments and try to sell part of the Italian public debt.